"Lower cost-of-living, we have our family's health care taken care of while we work on your start-up, and our subsidized universities churn out a steady stream

"Lower cost-of-living, we have our family's health care taken care of while we work on your start-up, and our subsidized universities churn out a steady stream of new grads." Cost of living really depends. There's lots of inexpensive places with tons of techies in the States - cost of living in Montreal is about the same as Austin, and more expensive than Portland. Vancouver and Calgary are both really expensive - maybe just slightly less than SF. Provincial health insurance doesn't cover dental or eyeglasses. All the really good guys in my graduating CS class (University of Calgary) went to work or grad school in Silicon Valley or NYC. I was the only one that came back, and the only reason I'm sticking around is because I like Montreal and want to go get an MBA here while it's still subsidized - I'm going to start this September, and will be in the last class before the Quebec provincial tuition subsidies are lifted in 2012. Canadian education will get a lot more expensive in the next few years.