High COL Relocation Debate

I assume you live somewhere rural, with low cost of living, and not a suburb of a major metro. Is my assumption accurate? You might even be remote, in which case you've traded higher wages for lower employment mobility (which is a reasonable compromise to make, but not common).

Because that's where many good paying jobs are. If I buy a home in a lower cost of living area, and my employer decides to do away with remote work, I may not be able to find another job that can pay the mortgage even though it is in a cheaper area.

You need to pay way more than the coasts.There are career benefits to being in a location with other tech companies. Not just finding a new job, but simply going to meetups and coffee shops and meeting people who are in a similar line of work. When you say "people do stick around" I wonder if this is part of the reason. I'd need extra money to make up for the money I'm losing by being far away from the action. Sending me to conferences might make up for this.There are c

I think you are overestimating the ease of people moving from one place to another. While job may be a primary reason people live in the cities, there are other important reasons like access to entertainment, shops, being close to other friends who leave nearby etc. It's not as simple as saying "oh, I could spare 500$ a month by moving in the middle of nowhere, let's do it". Not everybody wants to live in suburban/rural areas and spend most of his time at home.

I know this may be sacrilege to some, but: Consider moving to a less desirable place if you can.I got priced out of my hometown of Seattle. So I moved to a small town in rural Oregon and I couldn't be happier. The combination of spending comparatively little on housing + a tech salary is hard to beat. I have my own shop!It feels like freedom, even if it comes at the cost of being near my extended family.

You may come out way ahead if non-local expenses are a large portion of your budget. Everybody else loses.I'm out of the bay area, at a government contractor, with an interesting job. I can afford a huge family, currently with 14 people in the household supported on one income. Life is just easier where the houses are affordable.I don't know what you'd consider an interesting job or what you'd qualify for, but how seriously have you looked? People can have a bias that s

Not really. Imagine you are a remote worker earning average tech salary. Would you rather live in a San Francisco slum (all you can afford) or a nice beachfront house in (insert random low-cost country of your preference)?

You're right I do live in a high COL area, and you're right, half of that would work elsewhere. No need to be in the city if you have a guaranteed income.Here's hoping remote work becomes the norm someday!

WFH lets you escape crazy high real estate markets. Asking people to RTO in the Bay Area or Seattle should come with a much higher salary to make up for the gigantic housing cost difference.Even further-out suburbs and small towns near those places can be half the cost or less, not to mention going to the Midwest or the inland West like loads of people have done.

So you’re living in one of the most expensive areas in the US and think that’s normal? You could easily move to a lower cost of living area and probably find a job that made it worth the move.