If you want services and products to compete with private offerings you need talented and competent people who could otherwise work in a for profit business and get a typical salary for that position.

Unfortunately 340k is basically upper middle class household in coastal cities. Mozilla HQ is in Mountain View, the heart of Silicon Valley.

Try buying even a fixer upper is the South Bay and raising two kids on less 300k in Silicon Valley. I’m making close to 200k in the Bay Area and feel like I have no money for extras like home improvements, no kids, 20 year old car, travel on a tight budget once a year for a week or so, and still behind on my retirement goals.

Rent is like 5k for a studio. Mortgage is like 8-9k for after taxes and interest for a fixer upper. Feels like having a semi nice house and a couple kids in decent school is for people making 600k+ per household.