If you can only make 150K in San Francisco, you'd be better off moving to a MCOL or LCOL US city where you can make nearly that much and have no trouble paying rent. It's only worth working in San Francisco if you're making 200K+ and think you have a good shot at making 300-500K in ~5 years or so (or if you're already making >300K, obviously).

When I made ~$150k in SF, that equated to $8k/month after-tax. $2k/month for a decent studio/1-bedroom apt near Golden Gate Park. I felt very comfortable and very much enjoyed my quality of life on that salary.

The actual number is irrelevant; If you make <roughly average amount> in SF, and pay <way over the odds> for rent, post tax and rent, your leftover money is still more than a mid level engineer in Europe, even in London where the costs of living are proportional. If you make 2/3/500k it only skews in the balance of the bay area.

Which is a fun and profitable adventure for a kid out of college, but a functioning middle-class American grown-up owns his home. That "more left over,' while a lot, is not terribly much against the price of a family home here.

But the avocado toast ain’t cheap either! Neither is your Soulcycle class! People seem to find a way to spend their money one way or another anyway! But if you save the money, sure. However if you still buy the house in SF with that savings you tend to again lose all benefit. Thus the only way to do this correctly is make a lot of money in Sf for a decade, save most of it, move to some European country and don’t earn at all (this no tax).

> But the avocado toast ain’t cheap either! Neither is your Soulcycle class

A soulcycle class is $35/pop. Even at one a day, on top of $4000/month for rent, and income tax, you're still left with roughly the amount a mid level engineer in a european city (excluding maybe London) makes pre-tax. No amount of Avocado toast, or whatever the sneaker fad changes that equation.

> However if you still buy the house in SF with that savings you tend to again lose all benefit.

That's no different to buying a house in London or Amsterdam say, except once you've dumped $1m into your "modest" home, you're still earning 2.5x what the person in London/Amsterdam is.