I understand that not every tech job is paying SV wages. For a while I was earning 60k CAD and was still able to save up a good chunk of change. One thing to bear in mind is that if you voluntarily take a stint of unemployment you should probably see your expenses go down a fair bit as you'll have time to cook from scratch more often and will probably go off daily expenses like coffee.
Being able to voluntarily not work in your early twenties would be pretty spectacular - but once you start building a bit of a nest egg you should be able to afford short stints.
> For a while I was earning 60k CAD and was still able to save up a good chunk of change.
Also keep in mind that stateside, a giant portion of expenses you would have to take into account while unemployed are what you intend to do about health insurance.
I think most folks assume that people in their twenties will just go without dental/vision/pharma in the US and grab a cheapo bronze tier plan off the ACA unless they have a preexisting condition that requires some regular treatment.
I agree that the costs are higher in the US and it makes dealing with stress more difficult but... the US is a terrible place to be if absolutely anything is wrong with you - so assuming you could take a pleasant sabbatical there seems unwise. It'd almost certainly be cheaper to move overseas and pay whatever monthly fee the local government charges to temporarily enroll on their healthcare and it sucks - but, again, it's the US where healthcare is a stressful burden yall have to deal with - I was born there and emigrated and I've been quite happy myself.
Being able to voluntarily not work in your early twenties would be pretty spectacular - but once you start building a bit of a nest egg you should be able to afford short stints.