This is how a janitor is faring compared to an engineer working at the $500bn company

“They have free laundry, haircuts, free food at any time, free gym, all the regular things that you have to pay for, but they have it for free,” said Gonzalez, who with her husband spends more than half their combined income on rent in nearby San Jose. “It’s not the same for janitors. We just leave with the check.”

Though she said she liked working at Facebook and didn’t resent the engineers and product managers she cleans up after. “I know that they are the ones that are making the money,” she said in Spanish. “They are the ones doing the hard job and getting fair pay.”

But it does strike her as ironic that the most highly paid workers at Facebook are also the ones who get all the free amenities.

The $500bn company has been thorough about ensuring that its subcontracted workers are relatively well paid. In May 2015, amid a nationwide movement to raise the minimum wage, the company established a $15 per hour minimum for its contractors, as well as benefits like paid sick leave, vacation, and a $4,000 new-child benefit.

But those wages only go so far in a region with out-of-control housing costs. San Francisco and San Jose ranked first and third in the nation a recent analysis of rents, with one-bedroom apartments in San Jose going for $2,378. The extreme cost of housing is why California has the highest poverty rate in the country, according to a US Census figure that takes into account a region’s cost of living.

“You work for a company that makes so much money, and the pay that they give you is not affordable to live out here,” said Jiovanny Martinez, a security guard at Facebook’s main campus. “You still have to have a second job. You’ll probably never be able to afford a home. It’s a struggle.”

Facebook is taking some steps to address the housing crisis. The company’s planned expansion to a new campus includes the construction of 1,500 units of housing, of which 225 will be below market rate.

At the end of the day these type of workers have to pick up two to three other jobs to be able to keep the lights on so to speak.