I left the Bay Area, not Silicon Valley, 6 years ago and since then I've been able to realize a 40% salary increase (this has more to do with experience and seniority than locale - just making the point that good salaries are possible outside SV) and I've purchased a house and a rental property. The latter would have been unthinkable in the Bay Area. Plus the gender ratio is much better for men almost anywhere else.
I don't even think SF and SV are good places to start out anymore. You can learn skills anywhere with the internet, and you miss out on early investments due to the opportunity cost of rent. If you want to live in the Bay Area, it's better to hunker down someplace cheaper for a decade or more, save up a down payment, and then lateral into a midlevel or senior role at a tech company, whose salaries are high enough to service a mortgage but not high enough to save a down payment and pay rent at the same time.
I don't even think SF and SV are good places to start out anymore. You can learn skills anywhere with the internet, and you miss out on early investments due to the opportunity cost of rent. If you want to live in the Bay Area, it's better to hunker down someplace cheaper for a decade or more, save up a down payment, and then lateral into a midlevel or senior role at a tech company, whose salaries are high enough to service a mortgage but not high enough to save a down payment and pay rent at the same time.