0 chance. That's $270k after tax for a single earner family. A US middle class 4br/2ba 1800 sqft. SFH is $50k/yr to rent within 30 minutes of Google. So $220k in disposable income while US median household income is just $70k.

$6k+ per month in Mountain View minimum to not live in a shack.

No one is required to live next door to your job, and even if you were, you've only changed the calculus to be $200k disposable income?

Here's a 4bed condo for $4k right next to Google: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/701-N-Rengstorff-Ave-APT-...

Newark or Fremont is within 30 minutes drive (usually within 40 for rush hour) and there's tons at that price point. On the Google side of the bay there's many around $5k.

And honestly, as pointed out, an extra $10-20k on housing doesn't really change the point anyway.

It makes it higher than the median wage he mentioned…

So what? That again doesn't at all change the point of the argument, which had nothing to do with affordability of those rentals for people making median wage or anything else. It only mentioned that median as a comparison to how much disposable income someone making that amount would still have even after paying bay area rents.

Read.

“I suppose, that’s probably what you need to have a middle-class lifestyle up there too”

The point I’m making is that the median middle class income, $70k/year, doesn’t work - which is in agreement with him - pay attention.

You need to read, your argument is all over the place.

“I suppose, that’s [$400k] probably what you need to have a middle-class lifestyle up there [around Mountain View] too”

I showed this to be false. You will be plenty middle class at even 2/5 of that income, $150k, with still $44k disposable income.

It's irrelevant equating your purported housing cost (which was also shown to be false), $70k, is the median middle class income.

This whole thread is about, "you have to make sooo much money to be middle class", and we can debate the merits of that being a certain reasonable X% above median, like maybe each individual making $90k, or a single earner household of $130k. But it makes no sense to talk about what makes someone middle class around Mountain View to inject, "well my overestimate of a local housing cost is equal to median income elsewhere."

What does make sense, is if someone says it takes generating $200k-220k in disposable income to be middle class, to refute that argument by pointing out that income is so beyond the typical middle class American, because they are making 3x the money of a middle class American, if that middle class American had 0 taxes or housing costs, further illustrating how absurd that is.

$110k is the poverty line here. You cannot live here if you’re middle class.

End of story.

End of story? My living expenses are $60k/year. I guess you've settled it, that I'm living in poverty; with my 2 cars, garage, unlimited fresh produce (garden & store), Apple products everywhere, heater, A/C, sushi every week. Good one

I hate to break it to you, but the poverty line in the Bay Area is not my definition.

If most of population is poor, median is poor.

US is one of the richest countries in the world. People on average have more land, spacious SFH, and new vehicles.

Probably also have the highest amount of debt, and medical bills.

Sure, but I'd count home ownership in a safe area as a middle class metric. That would at least double the housing costs.

Plenty options <= $1.5m , so $8.2k - $9k monthly PITI. In the worse case, you consider that lost $ and now your disposable is still $162k. But actually, rent is closer to the net housing cost, because owning will reduce your taxes, increasing income ~$1k/mth, another + ~$2k/mth into equity, and another + $2k/mth inflation (loan is chipped away), so you're still looking at $4k/mth actual cost (if not less).

Your rent price is way off, you’re looking at 6k/month (72k/year) for a 4-bed, at least.

So $200k disposable income then?

Also, news to me since I'm in a $4.2k/mth rental, and feel free to view all the <= $4k 4-bed within commuting distance:

https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_rent/?searchQueryState=%7B%...