This is super interesting. A lot of responses make me feel underpaid, but I'm not really sure because it's dirt cheap to live in Reno: You can get a 1 bedroom apartment for $500-$1000 a month. My wife and I bought an 1800 sq ft house on 9000 sq ft of property for $230k.
I've been a software engineer at a small software company ~20 employees for 3 years now, but I've only been out of school for a year and I make $75k.
Compared to an engineer at a startup in SF making $150,000/year and paying over $3,000/mo [1] for a one bedroom apartment + California income/gains taxes, you're not doing too poorly at all. Your quality of life is also likely better and you're less exposed to crime.
That's true. It's hard to visualize all the costs involved with living in the bay when I've never lived there. The quality of life is pretty great here too. Thanks for the perspective!
I've been a software engineer at a small software company ~20 employees for 3 years now, but I've only been out of school for a year and I make $75k.