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Originally Posted by left of center
I would imagine this would be the biggest lure to getting these people back. Cry as Chicagoans might about how expensive the city is and how onerous the taxes are, if they move to SF or Seattle, they get entirely new levels of shell shock. I'm sure its an attractive angle from a cost savings perspective, and then the family and friend network that they left here could definitely help seal the deal.
I am not sure how much more tech companies out west pay vs their offices here in Chicago, but I would imagine it would be nearly the same (within 10%). If it's substantially less, I'm sure the lower cost of living overall would more than make up for it. Especially when you consider city income taxes (SF is at 1.5%), state income taxes (California charges between 1%-12.3%) and much higher rents/property taxes/property values, etc.
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I think it's a bit more complicated, although I'm a little bit more removed from salaries in Chicago in this industry (our HR sets all that anyway, apart from our usual ranges per level per location type of deal you find at any big company). There is a reason why this campaign is targeting mid-career people, who are probably senior at some level on average, versus your average 22-28 year old. If you are talking about what some companies pay junior level people, then I think Chicago lags by quite a bit on average vs places like SF and NYC. I talked with one of our recruiters in SF who came over from Facebook, and told me they'd pay people who just graduated from college something like $180K in SF base starting salary, which in my opinion is insane. As an Engineering Manager, I could make $300K at Netflix on the outskirts of the San Jose area and this area has 2 and 3 bedroom condos and houses for under $1M. However, Netflix fires people like it changes its underwear.
If you are talking about someone who is an engineering manager or senior engineering, or something like that, then maybe the gap narrows, and I think that it is who they are targeting with this. Some companies are willing to pay $150K+ for that in Chicago which is good at least from what I can see. It's also why getting more of the Facebooks and Googles to set up shop in Chicago, and bigger rounds of funding ($50M+) is important. It will ultimately make Chicago more competitive at least base salary wise. Places like Bay Area though on average offer more equity, which is what's going to make you rich if your company IPOs....not having a $150K/yr job with no equity. The one Bay Area law firm establishing itself in Chicago said it saw more "important" investments happening in Chicago tech. I took that to mean they see the higher rounds lately, and see the potential for more IPOs which means a lot more overnight millionaires. I'm leaving impact on housing prices in an area aside on this one as that's heavy and could have some ultimate negative consequences. However, SF is small enough where I think the issue is amplified. Here in NYC, it's been an issue too, but it's not just because of the tech industry - it's many industries (tech, finance, health care, law, etc) who pay more which has pushed the prices up. Chicago is at least much bigger than SF, and has some swaths of land now that are kind of transitional with the whole crime rate thing. If there was a huge boom in Chicago I'd bet you'd see a lot more housing developments in those areas similar to what happened in NYC years ago. That's a lot of ifs though, but certainly Chicago lately is getting more and more activity than before. A long way to go there - and I don't want to get into this as I think it's complex.
Anyway, hiring in the industry right now is interesting. Not only has there been a shortage of qualified people at some levels in the US (many are already employed) for these jobs, but couple that with immigration becoming more stringent in the last few years for people who ARE qualified, and COVID-19 essentially shutting the border down and you have an.. interesting time.
Some companies have had to take a lot more risks as a result and have programs to train up people in hopes that it works out. Doesn't always work out, but you never know. It can be a good thing, but if you are talking about what a company can produce, then ultimately having to hire people mostly in this camp slows down production, and potentially revenue. It has some ripple effects down to the stock market, potentially. The US should be investing more money in education, and other countries like India and China utterly kicked our ass in the last 15-20 years on this. There's a reason why some of my reqs in the past had 75% of applicants originally from India and on something like an H1B visa. A lot of people here who aren't in the industry and involved in hiring falsely believe that it's a "comapnies aren't picking the Americans!" thing. Well at least for me, most people who apply aren't even Americans so if you want me to be anti capitalist and favor some group of people over trying to get the best candidate regardless of where they're from, then it's kind of hard when only 10% of your applicants are actually from that group.
Some people in the US kind of know this and have been demanding quite insane salaries, at times. More than a lot of companies who even pay pretty decently will pay. Hiring has become harder as a result of all of this in many parts of the country now.
Anyway, some of the higher salaries at the same time has caused some companies to rethink their geographic strategies. Still a ton of high pay going on in the Bay Area obviously, but there's some more companies lately that have kind of figured out that you can get the same or similar level of talent at the end of the day in Dallas, Chicago, Atlanta, etc for a lower price. Might see more of this coming up, but with some rising salaries too. Chicago's cost of living coupled with the fact that you can have some sort of lifestyle akin to a NYC (on a smaller scale) is ultimately that plus. This campaign would basically target someone like me, and yes these are all very attractive things going for Chicago. While the property taxes are high in Chicago, the housing prices and income taxes are way better than any large area of CA or NYC. Our 1 bedroom costs the same per month as a nice new or new-ish luxury 3 bedroom condo in a low rise on the north side INCLUDING property taxes/HOA fees. I am pretty sure you can get a lot more "me's" to move to Chicago if you pay well enough, regardless of where we grew up.
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