I don't think "don't try moving to the Bay area without $1-2M in cash on hand" is true at all. If you have an offer for a job with a high income (what is a "hig

I don't think "don't try moving to the Bay area without $1-2M in cash on hand" is true at all. If you have an offer for a job with a high income (what is a "high income" depends on a variety of things such as if you have kids, lots of debt, etc.), and they will pay you to relocate / you have enough cash to comfortably relocate, it can be absolutely be worth it. Say you're single, no debt, and get an offer for $250k/year in CA and currently make like $160k in Seattle/NYC. It's very much worth it to relocate. I really think the bay area COL is overstated, the real pain point is in housing and childcare. Everything else costs about the same across the country (most commodities) or is only slightly more expensive in the bay area (eating out). If you are a skilled software engineer able to get jobs at high paying companies, you're probably financially best off at the Bay Area, with the exception of a small number of positions in NYC and Chicago.