To add to this when I worked remotely for two years I was always worried that if I move to a low cost of living city and I lost my job I will be screwed. No one would hire me at the rate I was paid with the SF company.

This has happened to me. Ended up working for a very scary company because they were the only local option that came close to matching my bay area salary. Moved back to the Bay Area less than a year later.

Lesson learned, I won’t be moving again without a relocation package

This has always been my big concern with leaving a major tech city ( even to go to the suburbs ). your opportunities shrink.

I'd be curious if this will change as more companies offer full-time remote.

Silicon Valley (mostly) is "the suburbs." Although there are more tech jobs in downtowns than there used to be, in a lot of areas most of the tech jobs are in suburbs/exurbs.

It's a bit different here on the East Coast. While there are plenty of options in the suburbs - the number within an individuals commuting radius drops.

There are a lot of pretty bad commutes in SV too.

I live (well) outside of Boston. About 20 years ago, there wasn't a single real tech employer in the city. That's changed primarily with Kendall and the Seaport. But there's still a huge amount in Metrowest and some in the northern suburbs going up to southern NH.

I've been lucky that through several jobs I've never had a really bad commute except into Boston for a time--but I didn't have to do it every day and there is a commuter rail.

> very scary company

What did they do?

Imagine if they didn't have to move for better opportunities but could stay living where they grew up in flyover country.