<i>Have you adjusted for cost of living?</i><p>Seattle&#x27;s raw rent &#x2F; housing costs are much higher than they used to be (i.e. see <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.seattletimes.com&#x2F;business&#x2F;real-estate&#x2F;home-prices-in-seattle-pop-nearly-19-percent-for-the-year&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.seattletimes.com&#x2F;business&#x2F;real-estate&#x2F;home-prices...</a> for one example), but Washington State still has no income tax and its land-use policies are somewhat more sane than tech hubs like SF  or NYC (<a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.geekwire.com&#x2F;2016&#x2F;redfin-ceo-glenn-kelman-shares-data-on-the-seattle-housing-crisis&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.geekwire.com&#x2F;2016&#x2F;redfin-ceo-glenn-kelman-shares-...</a>).<p>Austin is much, much less expensive than SF, but not that much less expensive than Seattle. A 2x salary or even 1.5x salary is going to make Seattle much more appealing on a purely financial basis.<p>NYC is costly but has interesting dating dynamics for straight guys: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;jakeseliger.com&#x2F;2015&#x2F;09&#x2F;19&#x2F;briefly-noted-date-onomics-how-dating-became-a-lopsided-numbers-game-jon-birger&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;jakeseliger.com&#x2F;2015&#x2F;09&#x2F;19&#x2F;briefly-noted-date-onomics...</a>.