Well, that, and the fact that anyone who buys a house pretty much anywhere will eventually be hit with higher taxes and fewer services. So for a lot of people,

Well, that, and the fact that anyone who buys a house pretty much anywhere will eventually be hit with higher taxes and fewer services. So for a lot of people, that's probably not being factored very highly because the same thing is happening everywhere. It's just the nature of the fire/teacher/police contracts that were given out all over the nation in preceding decades. So the deciding factor becomes something more like, "How much is the job I'm being offered going to pay me vs the cost of living?" They may also think about personal contacts, and the future opportunities a city is likely to provide them? I'd imagine it doesn't go too much further than that though.