In Chicago, it's fairly common to take a regional 50 to 75 minute train ride into the city from a distant suburb. Is there anything like that for Silicon Valley? Can you get an hour away by train and lower housing costs?

I can only speak for Atlanta, but the state of public transportation is abysmal from the burbs. True the train system is great to get to certain parts of Atlanta - and I use the park and ride any time I'm going to the airport or going downtown, but people in the burbs fight tooth and nail against an easy transfer system that will allow "them" to come up here.

And don't let me get started ranting about why the majority of white collar workers even need to come in to work as often as we do just for appearances.

Sure. Live in the Eaat Bay and BART in.

How about that. Clean 1br for around $1500/month and 10 minutes from BART station. That's pricey, but workable.

That's actually cheap, depending on the BART station (not all are created equal), the size of the place, whether it's gated, and whether you mean 10 minutes walking or driving.