I think it's largely about the attitude that people have toward their job, and people with similar attitudes congregate in similar regions. People who view the

I think it's largely about the attitude that people have toward their job, and people with similar attitudes congregate in similar regions. People who view their job as a minor annoyance that's necessary in order to support a family, own a house, and travel occasionally are different than people who view their job as an avenue for exploring the topics that fascinate them in life. It's not a bimodal distribution (perhaps more of a spectrum) and I would say that job attitude shifts more towards "support a lifestyle" as people become older. So yes, San Francisco and West Virginia both have tech jobs, but the reasons for people taking a job in each location are entirely different. Neither reason is wrong, but it explains the fact that certain "kinds" of tech jobs are rare and can only be found in very specific locations.