[gfaremil]

I have been living in Bay Area for 11 years and here is my take:

- as an engineer, you will never be able to buy a house in Bay Area (at least not so you can live conformable). you will struggle all your life. And don't dream: None of your stock options will be worth shit.

- the schools are horrendous, so expect extra costs for after-school programs or private school

- Bay Area is the best place in the world to be entrepreneur

- Bay Area has the best weather in the world

In short, if you have entrepreneurship aspirations and/or weather is important for you then Bay Area is the place. Otherwise, go somewhere else.

All the big corporations have development centers in other parts of the country. For example, Oracle has a big development center in Nashua, etc.