^^ the above statement is slightly misleading. The person only took into account San Francisco, where only people with the highest salaries are going to live quite frankly. Most people not making great salaries and/or sensible/frugal people will find somewhere else cheaper to live. Almost anywhere else in the Bay Area the cost will be cheaper. Put in any city in Silicon Valley other than San Francisco using Payscale (where he got the info from), you’ll see that the difference between Silicon Valley and Atlanta and Austin is more closer to 30% not 45% and the difference between cost in Silicon Valley and the DMV is pretty much, none.
Anyhow, regardless of the difference in cost, the hub of most technological employment and innovation is right here in the Bay Area. It is something to ponder.