Quote:
Originally posted by sipsake
Wow...this is a fascinating thread. I can't imagine what Santa Cruz must be like. What's the avg. salary there?
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Schoolteachers start at $34K, firemen at $36K, cops at $40K. And a lot of the big employers are in agriculture or up at the university, neither of which pay big bucks. A good auto mechanic makes maybe $25 an hour, but the hourly rate charged is more like $70. And rent on a 3BR house (that you'd actually want to live in) starts in the low $2K/month. A lot of people hang in here because they bought before we got expensive. And the people who pay the high prices for the houses are generally higher-paid commuters who work in Silicon Valley, not here. Or investors from the valley who buy houses on speculation and rent them out.
Our neighborhood used to be all Hondas, but now there's a big Beemer across the street and a Jag next door. Both houses occupied by one very-well-heeled person each.