[thruhiker]

There are many people who work in tech who highly value location and quality of life. I've lived in the Midwest, the South, and now Seattle. If you enjoy the outdoors, hiking, skiing/riding, sailing, mountain biking, kayaking, etc., but you want to earn strong compensation with the security of having many employment options there are relatively few good options.

There are other chicken and egg dynamics such as a large city is likely top have a large airport with lots of direct flights which is helpful for business and leisure travel.

Employers, especially startups and growth companies, want to hire top talent (and poach top talent from similar firms). That means they want to be located where there is a baseline of other similar firms.

Remote work is slowly changing that dynamic but the gravity of the city is strong.