San Franciscans are well aware that they pay way too much in rent, we just like to justify it by saying dumb things like, "but we never have to pay for air conditioning!" Even without the $4 toasts and $12 cocktails and $88 ramen bowls, things can start to add up pretty quick in a city with such a high cost of living. So how much is your paycheck actually worth?
NPR's Planet Money crunched the numbers on some recently released federal government data and found that the San Francisco median income of $41,265 actually "feels like" making about 10 grand less per year, after you factor in the city's high cost-of-living.
In fact, all of California has it pretty bad. Only Washington D.C., Hawaii, New York and New Jersey had a higher price parity according to the federal data geniuses. All told, the San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward region has one of the worst price parities in the country: goods and services cost about 21.8% more than they do elsewhere. On the bright side, things are just as bad in San Jose — and those people have to live in San Jose.
Anyhow, if the crushing weight of living in San Francisco is too much to bear you could always move to Danville, Illinois where the salaries are reasonable and the cost of living is so low it actually feels like making even more money. But for the rest of us who will continue to stick it out here there are still a couple cheap places to eat.
