I did. And I got my first two raises in 20 years.

Up until a few years ago IC was a rare thing to effectively advance your income. ICs were seen ad just ants that are useless without a manager.

As for "cesspool that is California" - SV provides the highest income opportunities, even if you include low raise opportunities.

and Highest Cost of living, I would need to increase my income 250% or more to maintain the same living as I do where i am today if I lived in San Fransisco.

From what I see, that would be about 80-140% higher than most non-Senior SV Jobs our there. Meaning my standard of living would drastically decrease even though my income would likely go up by 100%.

Example, I own a 3 bedroom home, on 3/4 acre lot with a 15 year mortgage, my payment is less than $900/mo... I would not even rent a Closet in San Fransisco for that

If the value of living in Bay Area was that low, you'd have a drastic decrease of rental prices. The same is with NYC - rents are considerably higher than pre-pandemic.

Calling California a "cesspool" is at best personal opinion.

Shall I show you videos of homeless encampments, people openly shitting on the streets, or people sleeping in their on bile?

I can assure you that does not happen here.