Sure, you may weigh the benefits of living in SF higher than the cost of doing so, but that doesn&#x27;t mean the cost differential when comparing like-with-like isn&#x27;t significant. Moreover, once you have a family, the cost-benefit analysis changes in a surprising way. My wife and I are dedicated urbanites and currently live in downtown Baltimore. We could afford an awesome house in a dense urban neighborhood walkable to restaurants, bars, our daughter&#x27;s nursery school, etc. But we&#x27;re relocating to D.C. where a house in a similar neighborhood would cost 5x as much, and are facing the prospect of having to move out to the &#x27;burbs (or the more boring suburb-y parts of the city).