I have a friend working for Google who is paying $4900/month for a two bedroom apartment over the hill from Mountain View. That is close to $60K a year JUST TO PAY RENT. I've lived in that insanity and my mind still has a trouble thinking about this. To put the cost of living in perspective, his rent every year is about what my house COST. My mortgage including escrow is less than his HOA fee. There is a lot to say about how living in the Ohio Valley sucks; the cost of living is not one of them.
Yeah, there was an... okay house in my neighborhood. 2800sqft, no view of the ocean, built in the '70s. $1.6m. I decided what the hell, let's see what $1.6m will buy where I want to live. Yeah. That was pretty much when I started going "since I don't want to live in LA, and since I don't have to live in LA, why do I live in LA? 60 more days.
Wow. For that money you could get a 500+ acre farm and the stuff to do something with it about 40 minutes out of the city. With the Internet, the stuff I want to buy is all online and can ship right to me. And the community of people I want to hang out with is smaller, more dedicated and honestly more involved in my hobbies. I'd not mind moving back to San Diego, but the price of living out there can go fuck itself.