I have an offer pending from AirBnB but they won’t give me numbers until I pick a city. My preference is Portland but comp is obviously a factor and if it’s too much of a drop I would opt for Seattle. Does anyone have a rough total comp comparison between the two cities? The offer is for an L5 engineer
Home prices in Seattle are quite high so you will be not be left with much after mortgage payment. In Portland, you get more bang for your buck and Seattle is only 2 hour drive from there.
I live in Washington (but lived in Portland for a cumulative ten years prior). Yes, Washington has so no state income tax, but EVERYTHING is way more expensive - housing, food, registering your car, high sales tax, etc. Portland has no sales tax for the record. With the lower cost of living in Portland, I’d take the Portland offer. That being said, while many big companies have satellite offices in Portland, Seattle has far more big companies here. So long-term, if that’s what you want, you may want to move here. However, a good compromise is take the job in Portland, as you can always move north in a few years - after you save the money you would’ve spent here in the first place. And I call bullocks on this data from Sperling’s. I used $100K as the base salary. I’d say you’d need more like $150K if living in the city.
No state tax is better for rich people. State tax is progressive, sales tax is regressive. Just don't spend much of your TC and you will be better at Seattle.
Totally agree from a financial standpoint but the reality is most don’t do that here and depending on the TC, the high COL might wash that advantage out.
I should clarify. I’ve done a lot of research and am leaning towards Portland for many reasons. What I’m looking for are estimates as to what the AirBnB offer would be in either city. E.g. “Average TC in Seattle is $400k, in Portland it’s $350k” I realize most people won’t have this but I’m hoping someone that’s maybe transferred within AirBnB might. Or anyone that’s gotten an offer in Portland as I can’t find any salary data there at all while there’s a good bit for Seattle.
Got it, mate. No idea on TC, but as someone who truly misses the Rose City, I’m biased towards telling you to take the PDX offer for COL alone - and I just think PDX is prettier with access to ocean, mountains, and desert much easier than WA. 😉
I'm definitely leaning that way, thanks for the feedback! And at a 10-20% cut I'd probably take it. I'm trying to figure out if it might be more than that
Comp is always negotiable. So pick the city you want and negotiate from there.
If the comp is close between the two, pick Portland. The cost of being forced to live in Seattle is easily worth ~10-15% TC imo
QQ for op: what teams do they have in Seattle? Did you meet them?
SF == Sea > PDX in absolute terms. It’s about a 10-15% diff.
Not sure if you decided yet but I do believe there’s a 10% diff between Portland and Seattle
I don’t but remember Seattle has no state income tax.
Portland also has no state sales tax Edit: to be clear I’m not saying those are equivalent, just something to factor in
OP could live in Vancouver, WA and work in Portland and won't have to pay income tax as well as sales tax. 😜