Moving to Bay Area
How much is cost difference for an average middle class family from NJ moving to Bayarea
It is easily 10k per month cost for a family with 2 kids
After tax costs, if you have a huge down payment to put on a house, maybe. If you want to rent a 3BR in a good school district that is 5+k after tax expenses alone. Mediocre school district, 3500 will do. Supporting a family of 4 on 5k a month (ex housing) is really not an American east coast middle class lifestyle, it will be lower middle class (think shopping at Costco, not Whole Foods, cheap local vacations, dining out rarely and only at low end restaurants).
Housing is 1.5-2.5x for comparable depending on where in NJ. No nice 600k houses for a family of 4 here . Overall family COLA 50% higher maybe more depending on your lifestyle. Here people bus from city to suburbs not other way around. Get deep understanding of towns and neighborhoods and commute and job location out here before deciding anything.
Calculator confirms 50%. Those usually understate housing impact though, so I would plan for closer to 75%.
Thank you peeps
Housing is going to be the main hit. I’d take a look at where your job will be and your partners if they are also planning to work. From there you’ll have a commute radius that would work. You can look at rental and ownership price and local schools for the kiddos. Good luck.
Obviously housing is significantly more expensive, but so is everything else. Grocery store food prices, restaurant prices, gas prices are all 50% to 100% higher than Georgia (not sure exactly how that compared to NJ but I assume NJ is closer to GA). Restaurant prices are particularly ridiculous in my experience. $10 for a hamburger without fries or drink? $4 or more for a single taco? Random “service fees” in addition to tax and tip? It’s downright offensive what restaurants cost out here.
May depend where in jersey but at least 2x