It's not impossible to afford a house in the Bay Area on just cash compensation, if you're a dual-finance/tech/legal/medical couple and both partners have risen to mid-levels in their organization. L6/E6 cash compensation is about $225K, two of them is $450K, figure 50% out for taxes/401k/benefits and you're taking home about $225K/year or about $18K/month. PITI for a $2.5M home (20% down) is about $14K, so you've got $4K/month to spend on everything else. That's just barely enough - it's like someone making $48K/year but having no housing expenses, which is tight but lots of people do it.
