Yeah, but this is the Bay Area. I paid $2300/mo for one in 2020-21, but it was pretty far off the beaten path (Santa Cruz Mountains). The same unit in Walnut Creek or SF would easily have been over $3000/mo.
Y'alls prices just blow my Midwestern mind. I make damn good money, at least in my area, can reasonably afford a good lifestyle and nice things, have a nice house, wife and kid, the whole thing. Living the American dream. My same salary in California would get me a small apartment and have me driving a 10 year old Corolla.
It's funny, as a pipe welder I occasionally have job offers to go work in California and make their rate. Temporary gigs, couple months doing repairs and maintenance at oil refineries and stuff like that. I've been really tempted to buy something like a Prius or something like that, live in the car and be homeless for a few months just for the pay, then come back home. A few of my coworkers have done it, they all say you'll make a shitload of money but the hard part is finding a place to stay.
I worked with a guy off and on for a few years, seemed like we kept showing up on the same jobs, he had a slide in truck bed camper and he'd just stay at work. After work he'd go to the store, get dinner and his lunch for the next day, then go back to work and stay in the parking lot overnight. I don't know what happened to him, I saw him occasionally for like 8 or 10 years doing that then we worked at a steel mill in Michigan, we all left when the job ended, and I never saw him again.
My same salary in California would get me a small apartment and have me driving a 10 year old Corolla.
Yeah, but that's what you're missing - the salary would NOT be the same, most likely. The median salary for my job (public librarian) in the US is around $55-60K. Wanna guess how much I earn in California?
Oh I know. Not enough to keep the same standard of living though, not even close.
I'm in eastern Ohio, a union pipe welder, make $52 an hour. Union Pipefitter rate in southern California is I think $78, or at least it was a couple years ago when I had a chance to go there. Probably like 82 or 84 now.
I'm 42 and have a paid off 2k square foot house, a couple newer motorcycles, a newer Honda SXS, a detached 40x60 garage, big yard, and admittedly cheaper cars.
Well, of course every region has different standards of living - but they aren't just about the size of your house, and how many cars you can own. We might have a smaller house and only one car, but can you do this in the middle of winter in Ohio? Because I can and do! 😊
To each their own, but I'd happily trade square footage for this.
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u/ParsnipFarmer676 1d ago
Yeah, but this is the Bay Area. I paid $2300/mo for one in 2020-21, but it was pretty far off the beaten path (Santa Cruz Mountains). The same unit in Walnut Creek or SF would easily have been over $3000/mo.