The clearest, most sincere and direct answer is YES.
The main reasons
• The tax burden in California is one of the highest in the United States
• The price of the house, both rent and property.
• Salaries are among the highest in the United States.
• The growth of technology companies in the area.
It is shocking to read that the salaries are among the highest in the United States, in fact a salary of $120,000 per year is considered low for the area. But this implies that labor is expensive, so all services are more expensive. Restaurants, supermarkets…
The price of housing in this area is very high because there is very little supply and a lot of demand. In Palo Alto, it's hard to find a 3-bedroom, 2-bath house in good condition for less than $6,000 a month. And buying that same house would cost about $3,000,000-$4,000,000
Specifically in Palo Alto there are not many apartments for rent, the presence of single-family houses predominates. Mountain View has many more apartments.
Atherton, 15 minutes from Palo Alto, occupies the first place in the ranking of the richest places in the United States prepared by Bloomberg.
In our case we are 3 of the family and Mac. Our approximate monthly expense (removing the rent of the house) would be approximately
• Supermarket (1 monthly purchase at Cosco and weekly purchases) = $1,200
• Utilities (Electricity, Water, Gas) = $500 (varies winter/summer)
• Cell Phones and Internet = $230
• Televisions (Here they are in Streaming, Furbo, Netflix, Amazon Prime, HBO, Hulu) = $120
• Mac Expenses (Veterinary Insurance, Food, Medicines, Day Care) = $300
• Cleaning Service (once a week, 3 people clean the entire house in 2 hours) $560
• Medical Insurance (3 people) $2800
• Leisure (Restaurants, Cinema, food delivery...) $2000(going out for lunch/dinner twice a week)
o A “normal” American restaurant in this area with alcohol (Wine or cocktail) for 3 people, minimum $150-200.
• Gasoline (2 cars) =$500
Other Annual or Variable Expenses
• Car Insurance ($2500 Year)
• Annual car tax ($500)
• Home insurance ($200)
•Travels
•Clothing
• Extracurriculars…preparing for college is very high
• Hotel Mac when we travel
Conclusion, yes, salaries are high, but expenses in the Silicon Valley area are very high, and in Palo Alto even more!
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