Silicon Valley is, to many of us, a mythical beast. A world where entrepreneurs live in oversized houses and send their children to fancy schools that have a very forward-thinking approach to education. But living and working in Silicon Valley is a real possibility \u2013 one that is taken up every year by hundreds of ex-pats looking to build their career in the technology sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Silicon Valley sits along the coastline of the San Francisco Bay. It embraces Palo Alto, Cupertino, Fremont and even San Jose, which means there are plenty of different places to consider if you\u2019re looking to relocate to the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Known for its sunshine and year-round temperatures that only occasionally dip below 50 degrees Fahrenheit (50 degrees Celsius) and seldom stray above 80 degrees Fahrenheit (26 degrees Celsius), San Jose and the Silicon Valley is a great place for those who like to make the most of being outside all year-round. Handy for the thousands of people that have moved to the Silicon Valley \u2013 the world\u2019s most famous technology and innovation hub, with all of its opportunities for employees wanting to get on in the technology industry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you fancy getting on the housing market in Silicon Valley, you\u2019re going to need a healthy bank account. Silicon Valley is one of the most expensive places to live in the US \u2013 and the price of property isn\u2019t for the faint-hearted! Even rent in London is 16% cheaper than in Silicon Valley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For a one bed studio, you\u2019re looking at spending half a million dollars. An extra two bedrooms will tip you over the $ million mark. But don\u2019t despair. Because of the insane property prices, the rental market in Silicon Valley is extremely buoyant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Silicon Valley rental market moves fast, so it\u2019s best to only start looking 30 days before you\u2019ll be looking to move in. Most leases start from either the 1st or the 15th of the month, so plan to move in on one of those dates and work your way back a month. Then, when you find a property you like, move fast. Good properties don\u2019t hang around for long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Renting a one-bed studio costs a much more palatable $2,300 a month, and for a 4-bed house, you\u2019re looking at around $5,200 per month. You\u2019ll typically find that you need to prove an income three times the value of the rent you\u2019re signing up for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you\u2019re not a US citizen already, relocating to Silicon Valley will require a fair amount of paperwork but, for the year-round sunshine, it\u2019s a small price to pay. You\u2019ll need a visa, but the type of visa you\u2019ll need will depend on your situation. You can find out more about the type of visa you\u2019ll need here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to the US census, average housing costs in Silicon Valley are $2,341. It\u2019s a good job that companies tend to offer such competitive packages! The general cost of living isn\u2019t cheap either. A takeaway coffee will cost between $3.50 and $5.00 and a loaf of bread up to \u00a34.41. You can pick up a litre bottle of Cola for around $1.00.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Having said that, restaurants are around 8% cheaper in San Jose and the Silicon Valley than they are in London, and are about 21% less expensive that dining in New York.. Apartmentlist suggests you should have a monthly pre-tax income exceeding $7,800 if you want to live comfortably in Silicon Valley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Conveniently, in the US, a law came into effect that requires all publicly traded companies to report the median pay of their employees. Silicon Valley was, by far and away, the leading region from a generous salary perspective. The average starting salary for a software engineer in Silicon Valley is $111,000 and many of the companies offer employees attractive benefits packages too. Google pays up to $300,000 for a software engineer, but the average Silicon Valley software engineer\u2019s salary is closer to $118,000 per year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An average programmer\u2019s salary falls somewhere between $122,797 and $174,459 and the highest of these salaries tend to be for roles based in Mountain View, Palo Alto and Santa Clara. San Jose also ranks well on the list of well-paying regions of Silicon Valley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can find out more about salaries for roles in Silicon Valley from the crowd-sourced website, levels<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The most popular mode of transport in Silicon Valley is the car. That is, unless you\u2019re living and working in San Jose where the transport network is so good, you won\u2019t need one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, even if you have a car, you can choose to use public transport from time to time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Caltrain<\/a> runs from 4.30 am until 1.30 am daily between San Francisco in the north of Silicon Valley to Gilroy in the south. It stops at San Mateo, Belmont, San Carlos, Redwood City, Menlo Park, Palo Alto, Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, and San Jose along the way. The cost of the Caltrain depends on how far you\u2019re travelling. The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority runs a light rail and bus service, and there\u2019s also a separate bus service for San Mateo County and the 16 cities and 4 towns that fall within it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When moving to America, it\u2019s important to understand the schools in your area. The quality of the school will have a direct bearing on the cost of the accommodation in the area. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Children in Silicon Valley start elementary school at the age of 5 and stay until 12 years of age \u2013 much like the UK\u2019s primary school system. Then Middle School (also known as Junior High) sees children through to the age of 14 when they then attend high school. They stay at High School until the age of 18 unless the student passes a proficiency exam or has parental permission. This is the equivalent to secondary school and college or sixth form in the UK system. After this, it\u2019s Higher Education for those who want to continue to a US college, but this stage is entirely optional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The thriving technology sector of Silicon Valley needs no introduction. The Valley was founded on tech businesses. Frederick Terman, Dean of Stanford University\u2019s School of Engineering, encouraged students and graduates to start their own companies rather than leaving to work for existing companies. Intel was one such company. Terman himself later helped source capital to create Hewlett Packard, and a multitude of other companies followed rapidly, laying their roots in Silicon Valley. As such, the area is steeped in tech history. But it isn\u2019t all about the history books. Almost every global tech company imaginable has some kind of presence in San Jose or the wider Silicon Valley. It\u2019s estimated that around 40,000 tech start-ups and 1,000 Venture Capital firms call the area \u2018home\u2019. Just a few of these who have set up HQ in Silicon Valley include: Apple, Meta, Google, Wells Fargo, Visa, Chevron, eBay, Intel, HP Inc, Cisco Systems, Broadcom and so many more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For tech lovers, there are plenty of things to do and see outside of work too. There\u2019s the Intel Museum, Apple\u2019s company store and Headquarters, and Nasa Ames Research Center \u2013 a research park that contains equipment worth more than $3billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For those who want to escape tech, there are plenty of other things to do. You can visit the Winchester Mystery House \u2013 here you can take a tour around a haunted 160-room mansion owned by Sarah Winchester, bought with the $20 million inheritance she received from her late husband, the gun manufacturer, William Wirt Winchester.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are a several parks such as Mount Umunhum, once part of the early warning network during the Cold War, and the Castle Rock State Park, which covers 5,242 acres offering hikes to suit all energy levels from 20 minutes to ten hours long. You can soak up the great outdoors with Happy Hollow Park and Zoo, or learn more about the history of the area with the Stanford Memorial Church or New Almaden Quicksilver Mine Museum where you can learn some fascinating nuggets of history related to the Gold Rush (excuse the pun). With so much to see and do, some of those flexi-working packages on offer in Silicon Valley will come in handy!<\/p>\n\n\n\n To find out more about our Silicon Valley and San Jose job opportunities you can\u00a0search here<\/a>\u00a0or drop me a line at\u00a0enquiry@ic-resources.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Pros & Cons of Silicon Valley | Marcotte Properties<\/a> The ultimate guide to housing in Silicon Valley (goodmigrations.com)<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For most of us working women,\u00a0the days follow each other without a solution of continuity. They start early, finish late\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":128,"featured_media":4797,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,322],"location":[448],"salary_guide":[],"job_sector":[],"industry":[],"class_list":["post-4796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-blogs","category-relocation-and-city-guides","location-united-states"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe cost of living in Silicon Valley<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Salaries in Silicon Valley<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Commuting and Public Transport in and around Silicon Valley <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The Education system in Silicon Valley<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The thriving technology sector in Silicon Valley<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Things to do in Silicon Valley, outside of work<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Additional sources <\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Cost of Living in San Francisco, CA 2022 (apartmentlist.com)<\/a>
Average Engineer Salary in Silicon Valley (daxx.com)<\/a>
25 Must-See Attractions in Silicon Valley, California (theculturetrip.com)<\/a>
Silicon Valley – Wikipedia<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n