Originally Posted by
benajah
I completely agree, inasmuch as it is due to the quality of recreational and aesthetic life. That just doesn't follow the normal economics, in that vacancy rates are still pretty high, which should drop cost of living more than it has in reality, but the Bay Area is an anomaly, an outlier economically, like I was saying comparing it to NYC. There simply is no place on the planet like New York, or like the Bay Area.
But then again, as a cyclist with a child to think about, the quality and availability of education, and the ratio of income versus cost of living comes into play. I need to be able to save enough money to send my daughter to college, and we also need reasonable assurance that freshman seats will be available at good universities for qualified students.
my bosses daughter couldn't get into Berkeley with stellar qualifications, simply because the seats filled up. I've never heard of getting wait listed anywhere else in the US but here it is routine to get wait listed at three or four schools.
I agree.
Life >>> cycling for choosing a place to live.
As much as I rave about the Bay Area, I used to live in Rochester NY and even now, I could see myself living happily there. It all tends to even out when LIFE is considered as a whole, and you don't just focus on cycling or work or one thing. Rochester NY is cold as $$#@# but it's so inexpensive and convenient but still has enough culture and great schools that you can live the equivalent of an upper middle class family life on $60k, replete with 2 (if not 3) car garage, 3000 square foot house, and school districts that send top kids to ivies regularly. That same lifestyle would require $350K+ per year in the Bay area due to the real estate.
I can afford live here in the SOuth Bay CA, but honestly, if I lived in Rochester NY, I would be able to retire 10 years earlier than I would here. Or I could work literally half as much and spend those extra days doing anything else (like cycling.)
So as much as I love the Bay Area for cycling, I'm still totally under the belief that the best place to live for cycling is the best place that works for your LIFE. The weather, roads, etc is all blah blah blah. It looks good in magazines, but if the jobs aren't good for you, or the family can't support you in the way you'd like in a different place, it's not going to be as good.