I grew up in Milpitas and just moved back to the Bay Area. It’s pretty suburby, schools are OK but not great, and actually has a reputation for having a bed small due to being upwind of a water treatment plant and a landfill. Not the worst place to live (I grew up there and ended up ok 🙂 ) but probably on the lower half of Bay Area communities in terms of overall desirability.

Got a nice pay bump moving out here, but after I started looking seriously at housing costs, I realized SD cost of living far outweighs any increase in income. I’ve got way more career opportunities in Silicon Valley, plus my family is here, but I’m already missing how much richer I felt in SD. Plus better weather, easier beach access, less traffic…

I looked at smaller condos and houses in Mountain View, and nearly all were going for about $1000/sq.ft. Rent is also pretty ridiculous so those prices don’t actually seem that crazy. Waiting for what I call “the stupid app bubble” to crash, though I’ve been saying that since Instagram got bought for $1billion three years ago–that seems almost quaint now.