Progress in California

I thought it would be interesting to compare my income and costs as a fresh college grad in 1976 with those of today. Are things really so much more expensive in Silicon Valley now than they were way back then?

When I graduated from the University of California in 1976, annual tuition was $630. I was able to pay these fees by working a crap summer job at a warehouse in Redwood City. In 2012, the annual tuition was $14,460. So tuition has increased by at least 2295 percent.

My first apartment, near one of the busiest, noisiest intersections in Redwood City, cost me $160/month. Now that same apartment costs at least $1925/month. So rents have increased by 1203 percent.

My first job, as a software engineer at a now-defunct microprocessor manufacturer, paid around $10,000 per year, if I recall correctly. Today, the starting salary for a new college grad in Silicon Valley is $128,456 per year. (That figure seems high, but let’s just assume it’s not too far from reality). So salaries have increased by 1284 percent.

This tells me that in the last 40 years, salaries for the elites in Silicon Valley have kept pace with rents. But tuition has increased nearly twice as fast. UC used to be a bargain; now it is a source of long-term debt.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ CPI Inflation Calculator, the cost of living has increased by about 432 percent in the same period, on average. It is clear that Silicon Valley’s rents and high-tech salaries have grown far faster than inflation, which would help to explain the increasing gentrification throughout the Bay Area and environs.