Thinking of the entire valley as looking entirely like this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:South_San_Jose_(crop).jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:South

Thinking of the entire valley as looking entirely like this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:South_San_Jose_(crop).jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:South_San_Jose_(crop).jpg is a bit hyperbolic. Downtown Mountain View, Palo Alto, and San Jose are reasonably urbanized and offer at least some of the culture one would find in SF (albeit far less). It also matters what age you are. Those with kids tend to favor the suburbs over SF. Those without may favor SF. Personally, I work in Sunnyvale and hate a long commute more than anything else -- hence I am happily living there.