<prompt> Human: tl;dr: Your first 64k of take-home 90k gross is gone the first of the month here.--Ive seen some awesome discussion in this group, and as I was going through my budget this evening I thought it might be interesting to share what it costs for a family to live in Silicon Valley, CA, USA- one of the most expensive places in the country. Ive got some general advice below, and will answer questions and comments if they come up.Background: Me, my wife, our 3 and 1 year olds live in a rented 1100 square foot 3 bedroom house in Santa Clara with a cute little back yard and a 2 car garage. Our last landlord in Mountain View raised our rent by 33 900 with no warning, so we noped and moved here a year ago. Its smaller than the last place and less cool, but in a great school district and at about our old rent. Slightly dreading what will happen when the lease renews in December, but whatever. It would take a 400,000 down payment to buy a house. Im in tech, she works part time from home, but we just put both kids in a decent day care 3 days a week so she can get a break from the kids and start looking to get back to her career. Heres the necessary expenses, household things we cant or wont avoid:Expense Monthly Annually---------rent -2750 -33000 car insurance -123.06 -1476.76 renters insurance -22.73 -272.78 city watertrash-124.24 -1490.88 cableinternet -130.00 -1560 cell phones -116 -1392 gaselectric -125 -1500 part time daycare-1966.8 -23601.6 subtotal: -5357.83 -64294.02 Full time day care will be 3278mo, or 39kyr. In my calculation, worth it for my wife to interact with adults again, and the kids to have a social and educational experience outside the home, provided her income offsets a good chunk of that tuition.Aside from the necessary expenses, My last car died after 10 years so Ive got a 340mo car payment. Wife owns hers outright, but its only got a year or two of life left in it. I want to retire someday and I want my kids to not worry about paying for college, so each month Im putting away 1300 to a 401k and 350 for each kid into a 529 plan. Whatevers left over after all that and the 30 federalstatemedicaresocial securityunemployment insurance taxes yikes goes to food, gasoline, savingsvacationetc. A lot of our toys and clothes for the kids come from family and friends whose kids outgrew their stuff, and the kids eat what we eat, so having the kids wasnt that big an impact until day care. I envy friends with parents and grandparents in the area.Some advice: Dont skimp on rentershomeowners insurance. I had a suitcase stolen off the baggage carousel at SFO a few months ago. My renters insurance covered the jewelry and expensive eyeglasses that were not covered by the airline. One claim paid for 8 years of renters insurance.Why do I stay here? Opportunity. Im learning a lot and love what I do, and if my company IPOs it could mean a very nice bump to the bank account. I get calls from recruiters constantly for interesting jobs thanks LinkedIn even though Im an old family guy and not a recent Stanford grad. Maybe the next company will IPO, and the one after that, and... If I ever lose hope on the opportunity, though, Im taking my marbles and moving -anywhere- else. Its rough on the ego to have a six figure household income and feel youre just barely getting by instead of prospering.So yeah, thats what its like out here. I hope this is interesting to somebody, I love reading about peoples situations in other places.  <response>: That is deffinitely the bay area for you, where 25hr feels like youre just above the poverty line. 