Personally, I love the geography in the Bay, but the money argument works out too. Especially when it comes to things that are practically fixed cost relative to where you live, like flying (often cheaper from big cities) or travelling, or many consumer goods.
Expenses are far more than double in the bay. Pay is barely any higher in Top employers... Plenty of senior devs in the bay work for 160k plus options that they might or might not be worth anything, and that they will not be able to afford to buy if they leave, and might not see a liquidity event in 5 years. So they get paid LESS and the job is only worth it if they chain themselves to an employer. Netflix offers a better deal... But then welcome to Netflix's culture.
The money argument just does not work at the top end. My current employer is based in the bay, but a large percentage of the senior talent is remote, precisely because the bay is a really shitty deal for what most tech companies pay.
Just look at mortgages: the difference is not 2x, it's 5x. California taxes are huge. I did the math. For me, it's not even close, and that's assuming Netflix compensation.
You're definitely an outlier.
Every time I've done salary comparisons, SV vastly exceeds every other area especially at the upper end. For most other metros, you have only a handful of employers who are even willing to consider paying a developer >$180k. In SV, you can get competitive auctions going >$300k.
http://www.inc.com/associated-press/top-20-cities-for-tech-s...
That list excludes biotech, and Boston is one of the top biotech hubs, so I suspect that would boost it even higher.
1. Read https://breakoutlist.com/. If that argument matches your motivations, go to San Francisco.
2. Do you have a (relatively) niche interest, like VR/AR, machine learning, or blockchains? Go where those companies are: San Francisco and New York.
3. Do you want to experience a city where everything happens? Go to New York.
Otherwise, pick Austin. Maybe Seattle depending on weather preferences and distance from friends and family.
I would be hard-pressed to come up with names of 3 successful startups from Austin, and I think most people would be too.