[sdaslo]

Mostly weather and culture, imho. California is much more liberal and foreigner welcoming than other parts of the us. And a large part of the well educated tech force is graduating international students.

Regarding weather .. very hard to find same easy weather elsewhere in the USA. Seattle comes close .. and that’s why it’s also impacted, just to a lesser extent.

[baby]

I don't agree. From what I've seen:

* most people will move somewhere because of a job, not because of the weather

* most people don't want even want to move to another city in the first place.

[pascalxus]

This.

It's not a choice. 99% MUST move somewhere or STAY somewhere because of a job. Without a job, most people can't live.

[pascalxus]

Austin is just as good 9 months out of the year, I hear.

Albuquerque NM, is every bit as good (i'm told) as the bay area, with 8 times cheaper housing. there are many more examples you can find in the US that have nearly as good weather.

[dreamcompiler]

Albuquerque has awesome weather,* no significant earthquakes, gorgeous scenery (tons of movies are shot around here), fantastic cultural diversity, a decent university, great food, plenty of housing and land to build on, and low taxes and CoL.

*Albuquerque is a mile high, so its climate is much more like Denver than like Phoenix.

What's not so great are a somewhat dysfunctional and corrupt state government, second-class health care and public schools, and a high-tech community that revolves almost entirely around defense work that requires a security clearance. Many of these would be remedied if Albuquerque somehow got a significant influx of startups.

[house9-2]

It is not just 'good weather', the actual climate is way better due to proximity to the pacific ocean.

[headsupftw]

Well, you heard wrong. Both places are much hotter in the summer than the bay area.

[dreamcompiler]

I find Austin uncomfortable in summer because of its humidity. Albuquerque is about the same temperature as Austin but because it's dry it's not uncomfortable.

[IWeldMelons]

Austin is not that humid. Compared to say Chicago or NYC.

[dreamcompiler]

Or Houston. But it's much wetter than Albuquerque.