So this is why I'm broke!

This article gives you an idea of the cost of living here in the Bay Area. Essentially, close to 16 percent of residents in the South Bay and Peninsula areas make about $191K per year. Let’s just say, I do not make that. I do not make even close to that. I have never made close to that, lol.

The article makes it sound like everyone who lives here is rich, but the thing is, the other 84% of us are barely scraping by. According to apartments.com, you’d be hard pressed to find a 2 bedroom apartment around here for under $2K a month. If you go by recommended budgeting advice and allot 25% of your income to rent or mortgage, that means you’d need to make about $96K a year just to afford an average 2 bedroom apartment. The BLS claims that the mean national wage in 2011 was $45. That’s HALF of what it costs to live here, meaning roughly 84% of South Bay residents are most likely paying half their income to housing costs. Get laid off and have to collect unemployment? Assuming you were making 96K, then you’d qualify for the maximum amount of unemployment benefits and that would leave you with $1800 in monthly income. And suddenly, job loss means you are homeless. A budget is rendered useless. Good times. The situation is exponentially worse when you’re paying on a mortgage which can average about $750K here for a modest house. I feel for those of you in that boat.

This whole income disparity/cost of living in the Bay Area is a big reason I wanted to start this blog. While 16% of the population is doing okay and can actually afford their housing, the other 84% can’t. And yet, we’re somehow surviving here. We are still living and eating and raising families. But it isn’t easy, and I want to share any and everything I come across that might help someone else keep their head above water here.

So if any of you have figured out how to make six plus figures while sitting at your dining room table, I’m all ears. Just kidding. Sort of.