Having lived in Long Island, NY and Boca Raton, FL I gotta say... I don't think I could leave the Bay Area.
The weather, the geological features, the schools, the meetups, the job opportunities... all factors.
But the biggest is that the people are truly interested in intellectual matters in a way that was not extant in the other places I've lived. My son is a programmer and nobody had a clue what he was talking about--which is fine--but they also couldn't care less to even try to understand.
And also, there is a lot of prejudice that I am glad my kids will not grow up in the milieu of.
The weather, the geological features, the schools, the meetups, the job opportunities... all factors.
But the biggest is that the people are truly interested in intellectual matters in a way that was not extant in the other places I've lived. My son is a programmer and nobody had a clue what he was talking about--which is fine--but they also couldn't care less to even try to understand.
And also, there is a lot of prejudice that I am glad my kids will not grow up in the milieu of.