High cost of living forces Bay Area residents to delay medical procedures, having kids

Myles Hannan considers himself a happy guy. He likes his job as an EMT for an ambulance company in Alameda County. He loves his fiancée.

But with the Bay Area’s notoriously high cost of living, he’s putting what he considers the most important things in life — marriage and children — on hold. The couple is “constantly smashing the piggy bank” to keep up with their bills instead. If they could afford a wedding, they’d be married by now.

And kids?

“Children are definitely on the back burner,” he said. “All the questions we have and concerns we have, all come down to that — we pretty much just cannot afford another person.”

Delaying marriage and children is one of many ways Bay Area residents are adjusting their lives to compensate for the region’s outsized expenses — everything from hous