For people living in the US who are in northern California or NYC, is your decision to live there mostly because that's where the jobs in your field are, or quality of life? It seems they are one of the few areas in the country where the cost of housing has far exceeded the earnings potential. The cost of housing is just so much, regardless of income level, that I would be reluctant to live there unless my job was incredibly secure. It may seem reasonable to spend $800k on a house when you are earning well, but just paying the taxes on that would take a big, non-recoverable chunk out of a paycheck of a median wage earner. It seems that anywhere else in the US you can find an affordable house for a median wage earner near a large city, depending on your tolerance for a commute.
I live in Santa Barbara, so...similar to NorCal in many ways.
In the Bay Area, what I've seen is booms and busts. For example, there have been times in the last decade or so where the typical Bay Area house was actually cheaper than the Santa Barbara equivalent. The difference is that now, that same house is $500k more than it was a decade ago, because of the boom cycle.
Santa Barbara is a really nice place to live. My kids were born here, we both have jobs here, our friends are here - we came and just never left. The traffic isn't bad like the Bay Area.
But the Bay Area has more jobs, more competition. During the booms, people in my industry could go across the street and get a big raise. So if you were already living there and had a house or condo, you could save a ton of money. That gives you more stability if there are more jobs. (Santa Barbara doesn't have quite the job market.)
At this point, I think it would be difficult for us to find jobs in our areas of expertise in the same location, unless it was the Bay Area (I don't want to go there). So, there aren't a huge number of places that have semiconductors, and those who do might not have jobs for my husband. Regardless, he makes more money. If we were to move, it would be for his job. Well the easiest place to go would be the DC area (his company has an office there), but that's hardly a huge step up. And I could get *a job* there, probably, but it would be more of a struggle, and I'd likely have to have an awful commute, so - just no.
What else is there? I'd hate to move "somewhere else" and leave my friends and my kids' friends, unless it meant we were going to be near family. No jobs for either of us near my family. There *are* jobs near his family - a house "our size and age" in his home town is $110k a year, vs. the $750k+ it is where we are now. No brainer, right? Well, it's effing cold there and they've had awful winters. And he doesn't want to move back home.
Anyway, the whole "retire to a nice beach location" - I just figure that our overpriced "starter home" in SB is going to also be our "retirement home", assuming we don't run out of water between now and then.