“Half” the cited $175k per year would be generous, and better than 80-90% of all people working in this country.
Well, the median price home in SF is $1 mil. So how is a firefighter supposed to buy a home; send his/her child to school and do all those other things we do in life on $65k.
(Your figure of 1/2 of 175K=87.5 K (salary and benefits) Benefits are about 25% of the total, with the remaining being salary..roughly $65 K before taxes which in CA are big factor. The taxes alone on a $ 1 mil house are nearly $12k/year)
I realize $65k is a great salary in most areas of the country, but everything is relative.