For the sake of clarity can I ask for more details on the COVID19 effects around you?

In my circles there is one person who lost her sense of smell, and another friend lost three elderly extended relatives but otherwise I haven't personally seen much more. Is this a more recent thing?

(Work remotely)

It's okay. If a company asks that you return to SF, just ask them for a 2-3X raise to afford real estate. That's what it costs. Or leave.

$200K/year is practically the poverty line. It's all because of real estate cost.

It’s really not though, you just can’t have a 4000sq foot house here, you get a 1000sq ft apartment or you commute in. 200k income won’t buy you a nice house in Austin or Miami without a commute either.

1000sq ft is nice for young people without a family. But, it’s a tale as old as time; those are primarily the group that power Silicon Valley.

200k/yr for 1000sq ft is pretty comical though.

Maybe that is what they want? People coming to Cali to burn their passion and youth, fueling the economy. Then they get a bit of savings if they rent and live like crap for a few years and jump companies to somewhere more affordable.

Because honestly, unless you hit it big somehow or already have a house in SF before, I don't see how an average salaried worker can afford a family home there. Settle down and making a new family is just near impossible.

Yeah, all the tech leaders freaking out about low birth rates (especially among the highly skilled) are supporting an economy that is structurally hostile to family formation among those people.

This is ridiculous- $200k yearly income will buy you plenty in central Austin with very little commute

Not in the areas with good schools…

I might be missing something but there are tons of 2br+ rentals around $4k a month. That seems perfectly affordable on a USD200k/yr salary. Maybe it's a matter of adjusting one's expectations?!

While I agree that it’s hyperbole, a family really does face vastly larger costs of living in SF.

Rent impacts more than just your personal rent, it also means restaurants need to charge more to pay for rent etc.

> Not to mention new COVID-19 variants ripping through the workers and their families.

You're not going to believe me, but you need to take an honest look at severity of current variants, availability of vaccines and treatments, and weigh that against how you want to live your life. You might reach the same conclusion, but it sounds like you're still fighting the last war.

Not GP, but an ongoing concern I have with covid is that the "severity of current variants" is something that you can really only know after the fact and mild cases can still cause long term effects. I also think that, even if there is a really dangerous strain that evolves, there's no way that in-office companies will go back to WFH, so it might make sense to plan for that possibility.

It could also be the case that they're fine with the risk of covid when it comes to actually living life (travel, hanging out with friends and family), but doesn't want to take that risk just to make zoom calls in an office instead of at home.