Santa Cruz is indeed a nice place to live, but most tech workers who live there wind up commuting to Silicon Valley over Highway 17, a twisty four-lane that runs through a mountain pass. The commute is time-consuming and stress-inducing and occasionally leaves one parked on the roadway for two or three hours while an accident is cleared.

A lot of people do it every day, but I decided it was too much and moved to the Valley. If it weren't for the commute, though, I'd love to live there again.