The amount of available jobs and their salaries is vastly different in each location.
One minute of searching for "software developer" on indeed.com:
SF: 7,223 jobs, median $95k Portland, OR: 1,222 jobs, median $80k
From a real standard of living, the cut in pay is overwhelming made up by the fact that I live in my own detached 2k+ sqft house on a .25 acre of land (and at significantly less than $3500/mo). Again, just looking at the city of SF directly, there are 13 homes for sale under $750k with a min of 2bd/1.25ba. Take a pay cut, have access to 40 times as many houses.
It's possible to do software development and not pay $3500. Which was what the above poster was talking about "I'd love to stop paying $3500/month in rent, but any property to buy around here has a median price of $1.2 million."
the most important differentiation between Portland and SF?
Also, the most important differentiation between Portland and SF is the weather. Anyone will skill can get a job here (I've never had to look more than a couple weeks).
[1] http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?coun...
The summers are amazing though!
You get spoiled living here and thats why people like it.
At $3500/mo (about $750k house), there are over 500 house available right now[0] just in the actual city of Portland (not including suburbs). And that's just limiting it to 2bd 1.25ba (and above) detached houses (not including condos, duplexes, etc)
It's totally possible to work and live somewhere other than California.
[0] - https://www.redfin.com/city/30772/OR/Portland/filter#!uipt=1...