Just got offered a job in Cupertino. The salary range was $70-85k but the offer was at the bottom - $70k.
Having never lived in the Bay Area before, is this enough to live on as a single person (and still be able to save some money at the same time) or should I be trying to negotiate higher in that range in order to make ends meet? Cupertino does have houses that cost $1-2 million apiece on average to buy, for instance, although I don’t plan on buying a house - and apartments that can easily cost $30,000+ a year to rent. Just wondering if there are other hidden expenses (aside from state tax) that I need to account for.
Enough to live, yes. How do you feel about roommates? I doubt you will be able to save much money. The cost of living there is 142% higher than the national average. It’s in the top 0.5% of the most expensive cities in the world.
I don’t like roommates, but if it’s the only way to save costs, I’d do it. I’m hoping to rent a bedroom in someone’s house and still be mostly alone to myself. Even a bedroom of that sort goes for $1,000 a month.
In my experience, sites like Realtor.com and Zillow are listing the big apartment complexes, not an apartment in a small building, or one attached to someone’s house, so the listings are of the more expensive apartments.
It might be worth taking this job since it would give you the ability to look for other jobs nearby. Assuming this is a tech job, you could spend your time there job hunting and possibly find a job that pays much more. Expect to live in a roommate situation for the first year while you figure out what you want to do. Roommate situations are also easier to get out of rather than an apartment lease in your name.
FYI, looking at this webpage for the city of Cupertino, a single-person household making less than $96,000 qualifies as “low income.” Congratulations; you can apply for below market rate rentals.
Thanks for the info. I’ll still be setting my sights on renting a bedroom out of someone’s house, too, which also has the additional benefit of likely being already half-furnished and someone else providing the utilities.
Cupertino is one of the most expensive cities in the Bay Area, and that’s saying something. But you don’t have to live in Cupertino just because you work there. There are many nice cities within commute distance of Cupertino and most of them are at least somewhat cheaper.
Yeah - from what little experience I have, I suggest you consider how long of a commute you are willing to accept. And how crapy of housing. Currently, being accustomed to a level of comfort in a less expensive area, I would not be able to relocate to that area at twice (maybe 3x) the salary you describe. But at different stages of my life, I was content to live in absolute shitholes. Good luck.
If they did withdraw the offer just because you countered, that in itself would be a good thing. That demonstrates they’d be hell to work for. The only thing worse than making $70k in Cupertino is being recently unemployed in Cupertino.
As to housing, seconding the notion to spend some tie with Google maps find out how far away is a 90-minute drive at the times you’d be likely to go to/from work. Then investigate all the municipalities within that 90-minute circle.
On $70,000 a year I wouldn’t call it living. I’ve known people in similar situations who were very unhappy with no disposal income left after covering the basics. OTOH if you’re young and have little to lose you can always move someplace cheaper if it doesn’t work out, and maybe it will work out and be the start of something better. It’s really about your tolerance for just getting by.
This.
To velocity: 25 years ago when I moved to the Bay Area Cupertino was way more expensive than the average place, thanks to Apple in no small part. Cast a wider net. One of the good things about living in Silicon Valley is how easy it is to change jobs, so even if you pick for a short commute now in a few years you may be facing a longer commute to a new and better paying job.
Check Google maps for traffic information around commute time. When we were house hunting I did the drive from the place I was thinking about buying to work and it seemed fine - but it was 2 pm, not 8 am. But in a year and a quarter I switched jobs to someplace much closer.
$70K is going to be enough to rent a place, for sure, and probably live fairly comfortably depending on your circumstances and needs. Cupertino is not along the Caltrain line or the county’s light rail network, so that somewhat limits your transit options - any commute will likely be by car. Going northwest (Mountain View, Palo Alto, the peninsula) or south (Saratoga, Los Gatos) will only mean equal or higher rents compared to Cupertino. Nearby Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, and Campbell (and the area informally on the map as West San Jose) may give you a better value. Believe it or not, San Jose, the most expensive large city in the US, is going to be your best value in the South Bay, but watch commute routing and timing, as other are saying. There’s nothing more soul-crushing than having to wade thru traffic for an hour before and after a long work day. (I lived in the South Bay for most of the 90s). If your new job is telecommuting, then you have even more options.