I just went shopping online for apartments in SF. If I were to move there now, a 1 BR in a very nice luxury tower in Nob Hill will run me about $3,700/mo. And let's throw in, say, $200/mo for utilities and expenses? And let's give a very generous $1000/mo for food expenses?

According to a tax calculator, a $200k salary in SF is about $130k/year take home, or about $11k/month.

After rent and expenses, that's still $5,100 in disposable take-home pay every month. That's not scraping by.