Treading water in a tech job in the bay area is kind of like being in a "normal" job (such as architect, as in buildings not software) any where else, except you don't have to worry about layoffs or a tyrannical boss because you can always just get another job.

Sure it would be great to have both a high income (relative to local costs) and a job you love and plenty of other options, but if one must choose... I choose to trade away the upper-middle-class lifestyle in order to have enjoyable and impactful work in my chosen field of software engineering.