The benefits of that nice house (and the neighborhood, schools, etc.) are ostensibly more so for the benefit of the family than the long-commuting employee them

The benefits of that nice house (and the neighborhood, schools, etc.) are ostensibly more so for the benefit of the family than the long-commuting employee themselves -- whether misguided or accurate. When one is single and (relatively) unattached, the calculus is different, as Silicon Valley neatly shows.