$69,000/year is not "below poverty level" in the Bay Area. I mean, maybe some random charity has a very idiosyncratic view of what they personally view as "poverty," but it's not below the poverty line in any official sense, and, practically speaking, a $69,000/year wage makes you much richer in terms of purchasing power in the Bay Area than $11,000/year (ie, below the actual poverty line) in rural Alabama.