This is a crazy read. I work for a very large software company with a decade and half of experience and even to me the numbers discussed in this article are dizzying. Life at Stanford in 2015 - Business Insider
Prior to 2011 I'd have completely agreed with your take on dizzying numbers. At about that time I contracted for a startup firm that recruited from Stanford, due to its home office being near Palo Alto. Average salaries were in the 120-150k range for developers. It was at that point in time that it was very clear to me that there was the world average people grow up in, and the world that people on the "right track" live in.
In a few places in the article the Stanford grads said they were provided housing allowances or the company (Google) paid for housing. I have worked for a major software company headquartered in the Bay Area for 12 years and I have never heard of such a thing. Granted, I telecommute and only go to HQ 2 to 3 times per year but I was a bit surprised to hear that. Hearing things like that really does make me feel that I am on the outside looking in, good grief. Yes, Sanantone it is obscenely expensive. For example: San Jose $5,500/mo 6 bds • 4.5 ba • 2,856 sqft • 10,000 sqft lot • Built 1970 That is slightly more than 4 months of a mortgage payment on a much larger house WAY newer (2012) here in South Texas.