[imperfectcats]

Purely economically motivated decisions are rare. We all have reasons beyond the financial to live wherever, including something as simple as our wife/husband wants to live there.

There is also an inertia bias. Life has to get pretty expensive for many people to want to undergo the hassle of moving cities / states, which includes leaving behind loved ones, and learning everything new (including leisure things like where you like to eat).

Going meta, NYC and California/The Bay Area make the bulk of their tax revenue from very few industries. The tipping point at which they lose a financially significant portion of their tax base, and the flow on affects of that for government workers and the multiplier downstream, has likely been reached.