I'm in San Luis Obispo: 3 hours from LA, 3 hours from San Jose and 4 from San Francisco (6 if traffic is bad). It's sunny, it's warm, we have nice beaches, goo

I'm in San Luis Obispo: 3 hours from LA, 3 hours from San Jose and 4 from San Francisco (6 if traffic is bad). It's sunny, it's warm, we have nice beaches, good people, the pace is great. It is (literally) the happiest place in America (look it up). My only complaints are my allergies (really bad here compared to elsewhere) and it lacks in the culture/diversity departments. I'm a bootstrapped founder so I can work from anywhere. I think your fear is the opposite of reality. Medium sized cities need developers. I basically have to hire remote freelancers. We have tech companies here in SLO (Mind Body, Level, iFixit, etc) and many have standing open positions because we can't find local people (all the Cal Poly grads leave). Same goes for Santa Barbara. You may not command an SV salary here but the cost of living is lower (not a lot) and freelancing on the side is always an option. All that to say, you can definitely make it work.