Big tech is actually still mostly in the suburbs. By big tech we mean Facebook, Google, Apple, Netflix, etc... It is only the newer generation of companies that

Big tech is actually still mostly in the suburbs. By big tech we mean Facebook, Google, Apple, Netflix, etc... It is only the newer generation of companies that are HQ’d in SF. The older generation employs far more workers and are still a lot bigger. Facebook’s HQ is Menlo Park (suburb). Google’s is in Mountain View (suburb). Apple’s is in Cupertino (suburb). Netflix’s is in Los Gatos (suburb). The only big city downtown is actually SF. I would characterize San Jose as a giant suburb. All the other so called cities are really suburbs. Oakland has a small downtown but is across the Bay and has virtually no tech scene. Particular kinds of tech tend to cluster together typically due to a founding company. South Bay is where hardware companies cluster. Enterprise software tends to cluster around Oracle in the mid Peninsula area. New software companies now cluster mostly around SF. I think the people who found new companies want access to the existing labor pool so they found the companies close to similar existing companies. If you work for FB in Menlo Park, you probably don’t want to commute down from SF. You would waste a lot of your time doing so. You also probably prefer to live in a nicer place than a fish tank. So if you can find a nicer place than a fish tank and that is still close to work, then you would jump at it. Even if you prefer fish tank style, most of the fish tanks aren’t actually that nice: 600 sq ft and a view of your neighbor’s balcony. 600 sq ft is kind of small once you get married. Also, $3400 sounds better going to a mortgage than an apartment if housing prices appreciate. You can always sell.