This.

I don’t live in the Bay Area because I want to work in tech...

I work in tech because I want to live in the Bay Area, and my skill set of technical knowledge aligned with tech pretty nicely.

In San Francisco, when the pandemic ends and everything starts actually getting back to normal, we don’t have to worry about if the weather will be nice that month. We can pick back up where we left off.

I don’t have to cram our outside summer activities into five months anymore.

I love Chicago, but I did my time.

I just moved from Chicago to San Francisco last weekend and can definitely relate. I had such anxiety as I was locked inside watching the few months where it's enjoyable to be outside pass by. Even without the pandemic, I always felt such a need to go non-stop all summer because I knew the warm days were limited and it got exhausting. There are a number of things that I am going to miss about Chicago, but I really appreciate the fact that I'll be able to enjoy outdoor activities here year-round.

The general area definitely has its attractions. SF increasingly less so. And a lot of SV is soulless sprawl. But if money were no object, there are a lot of places in the Bay Area that are very attractive and the climate is mostly pretty great.

Money usually is an object though and it's not really surprising that people paying $4K a month would depart if they don't need to live there for work any longer and they can't really enjoy at least the non-natural aspects of the area.