(Disclaimer: the following comment should not be taken to imply that I myself have concluded that SI staff salaries should be reduced.)
I believe everyone except Eliezer currently makes between $42k/yr and $48k/yr — pretty low for the cost of living in the Bay Area.
I’ll grant you that it’s pretty low relative to other Bay Area salaries. But as for the actual cost of living, I’m less sure.
I’m not fortunate enough to be a Bay Area resident myself, but here is what the internet tells me:
After taxes, a $48,000/yr gross salary in California equates to a net of around $3000/month.
A 1-bedroom apartment in Berkeley and nearby places can be rented for around $1500/month. (Presumably, this is the category of expense where most of the geography-dependent high cost of living is contained.)
If one assumes an average spending of $20/day on food (typically enough to have at least one of one’s daily meals at a restaurant), that comes out to about $600/month.
That leaves around $900/month for miscellaneous expenses, which seems pretty comfortable for a young person with no dependents.
So, if these numbers are right, it seems that this salary range is actually right about what the cost of living is. Of course, this calculation specifically does not include costs relating to signaling (via things such as choices of housing, clothing, transportation, etc.) that one has more money than necessary to live (and therefore isn’t low-status). Depending on the nature of their job, certain SI employees may need, or at least find it distinctly advantageous for their particular duties, to engage in such signaling.
(Disclaimer: the following comment should not be taken to imply that I myself have concluded that SI staff salaries should be reduced.)
I’ll grant you that it’s pretty low relative to other Bay Area salaries. But as for the actual cost of living, I’m less sure.
I’m not fortunate enough to be a Bay Area resident myself, but here is what the internet tells me:
After taxes, a $48,000/yr gross salary in California equates to a net of around $3000/month.
A 1-bedroom apartment in Berkeley and nearby places can be rented for around $1500/month. (Presumably, this is the category of expense where most of the geography-dependent high cost of living is contained.)
If one assumes an average spending of $20/day on food (typically enough to have at least one of one’s daily meals at a restaurant), that comes out to about $600/month.
That leaves around $900/month for miscellaneous expenses, which seems pretty comfortable for a young person with no dependents.
So, if these numbers are right, it seems that this salary range is actually right about what the cost of living is. Of course, this calculation specifically does not include costs relating to signaling (via things such as choices of housing, clothing, transportation, etc.) that one has more money than necessary to live (and therefore isn’t low-status). Depending on the nature of their job, certain SI employees may need, or at least find it distinctly advantageous for their particular duties, to engage in such signaling.