Sorry but I LOLed. I would've never believed you had I not made the same move, but in reverse. I lived in a good 2BR apartment in the best part of Manhattan downtown -- we even had a fireplace (but no fire escape...such is the situation with old Manhattan construction)...Now I live in Palo Alto. In a converted garage. And while it is technically a 1 bedroom, it is much, much more than what I paid for in New York. Quality of life is much worse in Palo Alto too.

When people talk about moving from downtown Manhattan to someplace else that has a much higher cost of housing, you know something is screwy!

Washingtonian here. The bay is not the PNW!

Wow, your housing in Brooklyn is MORE affordable vs SV? What neighborhood are you in? Brooklyn has some of the highest housing costs in the country and is on par with Manhattan at times depending on the neighborhood.

Brooklyn is expensive, but it's quite a bit cheaper than the Bay Area at this point.

Parts of Williamsburg and DUMBO are more expensive than their counterparts across the river.