SV has remained a key center of technology because it's easier to find elite and specialized talent there. Telework has yet to prove as collaboration-friendly a

SV has remained a key center of technology because it's easier to find elite and specialized talent there. Telework has yet to prove as collaboration-friendly as face-to-face and water-cooler talk. I'm not sure cost of living alone can counter that advantage. Any other city that "collects" enough techies to do the same will start to have cost of living problems of its own. Plus, SV is used to "foreigners" and oddballs. Many other cities are not. As soon as you leave downtown, tradition-based evangelical influences take over. Rural areas are going to be that way no matter where you are in the US, but the intensity is generally more gradual in CA.