[jyl]

Coming in late to this thread, as usual.

I've lived in California for a long time, but am seriously thinking about moving to the Pacific Northwest. California has become a really expensive place to live and most of the public schools are mediocre or worse which drives you to private schools.

How expensive is it? In the SF Bay Area, suppose a family has two kids in private school and wants to live a comfortably middle-class life - mortgage or rent on a nice 3-4 bedroom house, taking the kids on a couple weeks of summer vacation and some winter ski trips, some hobbies (like an old 911), etc. I know the definition of "middle-class" is quite fuzzy, and perhaps what I'm describing is more than some would call "middle-class", but to be clear I'm not talking about long trips in Europe every year and a 5,000 sq ft house stuffed with plasma TVs and new SUVs.

How much will it cost? Based on the families I know, you're talking about at least a $150K/yr income. Which means either both parents have to work, or one parent has to have a pretty good job. And those families aren't saving any money, beyond a 401k contribution.

Do other Californians see it the same way I do? Or is my sense of living costs here out of whack?

On top of this, I'm not seeing that you actually get paid significantly more here, compared to equivalent jobs in other desirable regions.