is there a big difference in cost of living between nyc and la? moving to la for a job and want to ensure my salary expectations are in the right ballpark. 

i currently make $130k and my rent (shared with my partner) is $2950. we already own a car together so we already have that in our world of monthly expenses, and would be road tripping out there over the course of a month. 

also, i’ll be jumping from acd to cd, going from media company to small digital agency.
https://www.bestplaces.net/cost-of-living/
you guys really need to state which major city you're based in when putting this shit out there. i make $75k in a tier 3 low col city, and to have the same standard of living, i'd have to make $136k in sf, per the cost of living calculators. your $140k in a nyc/sf/la isn't that much better than his $70k in a low tier2 / tier 3 city. not hating on it, it's good money don't get me wrong, but you're comparing shit on absolute terms instead of relative terms.
edit: also need to add the amount of hours you work. if he's working 40 hours and you're working 55-60, its apples to oranges. it depends how much you would have to pay out on your current lease. i can only give you estimates based on what we spend with a family of 4. i am a stay at home mom, my husband commutes about 20 minutes to work and i have a teenage driver (16 year old girl) and a teenage boy with a huge appetite. i am now spending about $200 a week on groceries with two teenagers. gas is costing us about $100 a week. car insurance is about $400 per year. our housing runs about $1,800 per month with insurance. we live in a nice neighborhood but our house is only about 2200 sq. ft. you can definitely get larger homes for less money in a less expensive neighborhood, but i would defintely stay on the east side -- sandy and draper are nice. if you go on the west side, be sure it's southwest -- south jordan, riverton, bluffdale. 

since i'm digressing, i'll just continue on this bent. your better schools are on the east side -- anywhere on the east side. if you want to go north of salt lake, consider bountiful, and fruit heights (good schools, but slightly more expensive) stay away from ogden, woods cross and layton. traffic into and out of davis county is horrendous.

if you go one county south (utah county) you have an excellent school district with alpine. avoid lehi. alpine and highland are lovely little suburbs with great schools and a great atmosphere nestled right up against the mountains. home prices and taxes are higher than other places (like american fork, pleasant grove and orem) but they are very sweet places to live. if you're not mormon i probably would'nt consider them -- they're about 98% mormon. mormons are very nice people typically (i know -- i am one) but you're kids might feel a bit left out not being one of the majority.

ok, back to the topic at hand. if you would like to email me, i would be happy to tell you what we make and how we live, but i'd rather not broadcast that all over the internet. email me at daves\_comet@yahoo.com. i would be happy to answer any questions you may have about moving to salt lake. let's just say that i moved here 20 years ago and i have never found a place i like better. i have lived in many cities in different parts of the world, but this is where i hang my heart.

good luck. i have never lived in atlanta and can't speak to what the experience there would be like, but i have lived in las vegas and in my opinion it is an extremely underrated place to live.

the great thing about las vegas is that you get all the benefits of a big city (restaurants, entertainment, social scene, etc.) without most of the downsides (cost of living, traffic, etc.). ok if all taxes should be equal why does new york have 8.5 sales tax in some counties and 7.25 in other counties? i mean shouldn't it all be fair. plus new yorker's have an additional tax of approximately 32 cents per gallon that other states don't have so shouldn't they have to get rid of that. i mean that isn't fair to new york state filling station owner's. 

see none of it is fair. you pick and choose where you live and you pay the taxes. you decide where you buy from and whether local or off the internet. this is just another way for the government to get more of your dollars and has nothing to do with being fair to other businesses you will not earn more money in the usa (especially if you settle here). go to canada or australia for a better future finding a wife. might leave the bay area for it (among other reasons)career wise i’m not too ambitious. i’m already l5 and would be 100% happy with that comp outside of the bay area. not sure if principal/l6 is worth the added stress. it all varies depending on the team.if you’re close to production, pressure is high. outside of this there are a lot of variation, but in general people are working a lot. this is not really that there are explicit pressure to work long hours but many are very committed , and i think that when you are joining a team you’re more likely to pick up the same rythme.in terms of compensation, it depends on the role / the team and how much they want you after the on-site, but they will in general align on other offers you may have (from google/fb/apple/amazon/...) you can find it at https://cbc.gov.ky/images/documents/customs-tariff-law-2017-revision.pdf chapter 22, which starts on page 48 tariffs range anywhere from $2/litre to $16/litre, depending what you are bringing in - some of them are a pecentage. i'm an engineer so don't know exactly how much an em makes but my gut feeling says it should be around 65-70k sek a month before tax (we don't mesure salary annually here in europe 😁)