On the (sad) bright side of living in the Bay for awhile, if you ever move anywhere else, housing will probably all look like a bargain!

You'll probably also take a massive paycut.

For sure. I haven't done any research, but I'm sure there are some areas, though, where the % pay cut is less than the % reduction in housing costs, though.

If you do know of such a place, please post it. When I do the math SF always comes out on top.

I have much more money left over in Austin than I did in San Jose (and living in a 4bd house instead of a crappy SJ 2bd apartment) despite a COLA adjustment from the company... And by the looks of it I could get the pay back up here anyway if I can be bothered to drive to the office of some local company.

Purely personal anecdata, of course, but it does work for me, and the quality of life is (for me, anyway) much higher.

It depends if you're single or have kids and/or a spouse that doesn't work or makes significantly less money. In those cases, a lot of places will beat the Bay.

If you're single or duel (tech) income with no kids, the Bay wins almost always.

Texas

It's fine for me. I mean, our house wasn't cheap, but it's a nice house in a nice neighbourhood, and I'm really happy to live here. We do need two good incomes to be able to afford it, though. Sure, I could live much cheaper elsewhere, but then I wouldn't be living here.