Apple is specifically in Cupertino, which is the suburbia part of Silicon Valley. The term "Silicon Valley" has been shifting in the last decade+ to encompass t

Apple is specifically in Cupertino, which is the suburbia part of Silicon Valley. The term "Silicon Valley" has been shifting in the last decade+ to encompass the cities of San Francisco and Oakland and basically to be equivalent to "San Francisco Bay Area," but Apple remains actually in Silicon Valley. So that means you have the drawbacks of high cost of living but none of the attractions of being in an urban city. Getting between Cupertino and San Francisco is awful - your options are a lengthy Caltrain or a miserable drive, and neither living in SF and commuting to Cupertino nor living in Cupertino and heading to SF in the evenings (and heading back home late at night) are particularly enjoyable. So you don't really get the cultural benefits of being near a big city. I learned recently that Apple does have a NYC engineering office (I live in NYC, and I used to live and commute in SFBA), which made me actually think about applying to work there for the first time ever. The cost of living in NYC is a bit higher, but at least I get to actually enjoy the city, which makes it much more worthwhile for that cost of living than working in the Valley proper.