Depends where you are.
At my wife’s office the average salary is probably in the $240,000 range. That’d be your generic mid-level manager.
If you include variables like bonuses and stock grants you’d probably have compensation in the $320,000 range, give or take, on average.
Certainly there are lower level, new people that make significantly less – but then there are plenty that make considerably more.
Considering that both spouses typically work (so there’d probably be other income in addition) how much home do you think you could afford?
I ask because you can hike around in Peters Canyon and climb a few hills and look out at mile after endless mile of million+ dollar homes. They’re not sitting unoccupied either.
Then you can go to Malibu or Newport Beach and look at the *really* expensive ones.
People don’t live in southern CA because they crave smog or enjoy never-ending hordes of people. There’s only one reason ($).
But are they REALLY better off? You could make 240k in CA, sure, but when you figure housing costs, you could live in Omaha on $120k at the same standard of living. I'm not denying the money factor, but I bet at least SOME of the people who live in these high-cost places would discover they'd live BETTER with a pay cut somewhere like Texas than they do in California.
Here's an interesting website, probably one of the most accurate of its type:
http://www.bestplaces.net/col/