What salary do I need to have a similar lifestyle in Silicon Valley?

You'll be renting in California, not buying. Just make that assumption and don't even entertain the prospect of paying $1.5M for a home. For comparison purposes, I would look at rentals. A good 2BR rental reasonably proximate to downtown Atlanta runs about $1800. That same rental in San Jose is going to cost you at least $3200. So figure you need an extra $25k a year for that. Taxes are going to be substantially higher in San Jose so figure you'll need an extra $10k to compensate for the higher state and local tax rates. So if you look at the data out there what you'll find is the average senior software engineer in San Jose makes about $140k while the average senior software engineer in Atlanta makes about $100k. The extra $40k is compensation for the difference in housing and taxes.

/r/personalfinance Thread