Emmy MartinJul 7, 2026 – 3.22pmKatrine Razniak, 27, arrived in San Francisco in 2022 as a recruiter at LinkedIn, earning $US70,000 ($100,000) a year. Her annual salary soared to $US180,000 when she joined the software company Rippling to lead a team of account managers. Her partner, Adam Woodbury, 39, moved to the city in 2021 and earns $US185,000 as a software engineer.These days, even those six-figure salaries are no longer enough in San Francisco.Subscribe to gift this articleGift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber? Fetching latest articles
In San Francisco, even $250,000 tech salaries are no longer enough
As OpenAI and Anthropic prepare to go public, tech workers making six figures cannot compete with the new AI elite.












