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According to the Silicon Valley Index (Silicon Valley Index) , in 2018, 30% of Silicon Valley households had an annual income of more than $ 200,000. The per capita income in Silicon Valley (Per Capita Personal Income) reached US $ 113,000 in 2018, which is 1.8 times the per capita income in California of US $ 64,000. The per capita income of the United States is 2.1 times that of 54,000 US dollars.

The green curve in the figure below is the trend of per capita income in Silicon Valley from 1998 to 2018; the yellow curve is the trend of California’s per capita income, and the blue curve at the bottom is the trend of American wages.

1998 ～ 20Comparison of the per capita income of Silicon Valley, California, and the entire American in 18 years. Image source: Silicon Valley Index

In 2018, the median household income in the Silicon Valley area (Median Household Income) is about $ 126,000, which is the median household income in California It is 1.7 times the number of US $ 75,000, which is twice the national median household income of US $ 62,000.

Comparison of median household income in Silicon Valley, California and the United States from 2001 to 2018, source of image: Silicon Valley Index

The fierce competition for talent in Silicon Valley has spawned a company club with an annual salary of $ 200,000 ($ 200K club) The median (Median) exceeds $ 200,000. The annual salary here refers to the total annual salary, including basic salary, bonus and stock.

According to the financial reports of various listed companies in 2018, the members of the $ 200,000 annual salary club in Silicon Valley include:

• Google, about $ 250,000 ($ 246,804)

• Facebook, about $ 230,000 ($ 228,651)

• Netflix, about $ 200,000 ($ 202,335)

• NetApp, about $ 200,000 ($ 198,620)
  

  The average salary in the statistical sense does not accurately reflect a company ’s salary level. Some company executives have extremely high salaries. The annual salary of some Silicon Valley companies such as Apple, Google and Facebook are more than 20 million US dollars. If you only do a simple arithmetic average, it will increase the average salary.

  The median salary (Median) more accurately reflects the salary level in a company with a $ 200,000 annual salary club If all the employees of the company are arranged in a long line according to the salary from high to low, the annual salary of the middle person is $ 200,000. In other words, at least half of the employees of this company have an annual salary of more than $ 200,000.

  Silicon Valley ’s high housing prices

  
  

  One of the hallmarks of the American Dream is to own your own property. Although the per capita income in Silicon Valley is high, many people cannot afford a house . why? Because this is one of the highest average house prices in the United States.

  According to Compass data, the median house price of a single-family house in San Francisco in 2018 was $ 1.6 million, the median house price of a nationwide house was $ 260,000, and the median house price of a California house was $ 565,000.

  comparison chart of median house prices in San Francisco, California and the entire United States, picture source: COMPASS

  The median house price in Silicon Valley is about $ 1 million, which is four times the median house price in the United States. In terms of housing prices, Silicon Valley in the United States is equivalent to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen in China.

  In 2018, the US home ownership rate (homeownership rate) was 64.2%, In Santa Clara County, the core area of ​​Silicon Valley, the homeownership rate is only 51.4%, which is one of the lowest in the United States. Almost half of the people in Silicon Valley do not have their own houses.

  A well-known Silicon Valley computer scientist and best-selling author once said in a closed-door speech that you must be excellent in Silicon Valley, otherwise you may not be able to afford housing.

  There is financing every day, there are layoffs every day

  Silicon News Agency often publishes the “American Financing News”. It seems that Silicon Valley has startup companies getting money every day, but layoffs are also commonplace. “People are floating in the rivers and lakes, how can you not get a knife?”

  The recent New Corona Virus epidemic in the United States has severely damaged startups in Silicon Valley, and some well-known unicorn companies have also been unable to sustain them. They have announced large-scale layoffs:

  • On 4/21/2020, Internet financial technology company LendingClub lays off 460 people;

  • On 4/21/2020, home design website Houzz laid off 155 people;

  • 4/15/2020, GoPro layoffs of sports camera company200 people;

  • 4/15/2020, robot pizza company Zume lays off 200 people;

  • On 4/15/2020, the option management software company Carta laid off 161 people;

  • On 4/14/2020, visitor management software company Envoy laid off 58 employees;

  • On 4/13/2020, the self-driving car technology company Zoox laid off 100 people;

  • 4/9/2020, Yelp, the US “Public Review” website, laid off 1,000 people;

  • 4/8/2020, the recruitment management system software company Lever lay off 86 people;
    

    Mystery of slow population growth in Silicon Valley

    
    

    According to the 2020 Silicon Valley Index, the population of Silicon Valley is approximately 3.1 million, of which 38% are immigrants born outside the United States. Although the population is increasing, the rate of growth is very slow, which is a bit strange: since people from all over the United States and around the world come to work and live in Silicon Valley every year, why is the population increasing so slowly?

    The Silicon Valley Index 2020 reveals the answer to this question: Because many people leave Silicon Valley every year and move to other parts of the United States.
    

    In the figure below, the red bar graph above the abscissa represents the number of overseas immigrants flowing into Silicon Valley each year. The orange bar graph below the abscissa is the number of people who flow out to other cities in the United States each year. The green curve is the net inflow / outflow data.