This kind of post is the reason I left the Bay Area. Wife (30), new daughter (9mon), and I (31) recently moved to SD. I lived in the Bay Area for 14 years.
Every friend of ours has been slowing leaving the Bay Area for years (except for the ones that had family there).
Yes, there are many things to do there, but it’s difficult to take advantage when both parents have to work 40-60 hours a week and have their child in day care full time.
Unless you’re making $200-250K household combined income, you’re basically poor and can’t afford a house. Amazingly with the price of homes, there are very few good school districts.
If you are okay with you and your wife having to work 40-60 hours a week and putting your children in daycare 40+ hours a week and living in a 1200sq. ft home ($800K+) with crummy schools, then I would suggest living there. If that quality of life doesn’t appeal to you, then I would move elsewhere.
Most of our friends and others in the Bay Area that we spoke to about our move to SD said they were jealous.
A colleague who moved down to SD put it well, he said the main difference between the bay area and SD is that in the bay area, all people talk about is their jobs or how much $ they make, where in SD it’s much more laid back and people are interesting in talking about other things that contribute to their quality of life.
