>This cost of living calculator shows that you would need to make over $100k in San Francisco to enjoy the same lifestyle that $60k gets you in the Motor City.
So in return for my employer having an excuse to pay me $40k less, I get the benefit of working in Detroit, ranking in at #2 on the list of "most dangerous cities in the US" the last 2 years running[1] (beaten out only by Flint, a mere hour's drive away to the north), with the additional side benefits of "people question your sanity" and a complete lack of other people in my chosen field, outside of coworkers, to meet up with locally, thus creating a situation where if I was discontent with my job I'd need to move across the country in one direction or another (after, presumably, having moved to go to Detroit in the first place).
I can't help but feel like this is a sour grapes article overall. "We can't afford to set up shop in California, but who wants to live there anyways? I'm perfectly happy here where I'm 4 times more likely to be mugged and/or murdered!"
So in return for my employer having an excuse to pay me $40k less, I get the benefit of working in Detroit, ranking in at #2 on the list of "most dangerous cities in the US" the last 2 years running[1] (beaten out only by Flint, a mere hour's drive away to the north), with the additional side benefits of "people question your sanity" and a complete lack of other people in my chosen field, outside of coworkers, to meet up with locally, thus creating a situation where if I was discontent with my job I'd need to move across the country in one direction or another (after, presumably, having moved to go to Detroit in the first place).
I can't help but feel like this is a sour grapes article overall. "We can't afford to set up shop in California, but who wants to live there anyways? I'm perfectly happy here where I'm 4 times more likely to be mugged and/or murdered!"
[1] http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2012/p... - Violent Crime divided by Population