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Menlo Park isn't comparable to Austin though - Austin's equivalent of Menlo Park would be a country club CDP in the Austin Hills like Rob Roy. A better compari

Menlo Park isn't comparable to Austin though - Austin's equivalent of Menlo Park would be a country club CDP in the Austin Hills like Rob Roy. A better comparison would be ATX against San Jose. Just like how the "rich" residents of Santa Clara county know that you want to live in Campbell, Los Gatos, Menlo Park, Los Altos, Loyola, etc, similarly rich Texans and Austinites live in the Hills. The reality is the residents of Menlo Park and Rob Roy don't want your type, and in a lot of cases tend to be the same people as there aren't many places left where you can trail run, bike, eat Michelin star ramen, and not pay income tax. Just because we make good money in tech, it doesn't make us "them". I highly recommend reading the works of Pierre Bourdieu with regards to cultural capital.

onlyrealcuzzo 8mo ago
Menlo Park has a higher population density than Austin... The majority of it is not Bel Air...
- alephnerd 8mo ago
  > The majority of it is not Bel Air... Menlo Park was never a "middle class" town. The 101 was always the (literal) redline. The median household income is $210K [0] and it's the same demographic, unlike historically lower middle class but now upper middle class San Mateo [1]. A Menlo Park home address that is on the correct side of the 101 opens the same doors in the Bay that a Bel Air address does in Los Angeles or an Austin Hills address does in Austin. Rich doesn't equal conspicuous, especially in the Bay Area - "Wealth is quiet, rich is loud, poor is flashy" [0] - https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/menloparkcitycalifornia/PST045224 https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/menloparkcityca... [1] - https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/sanmateocitycalifornia,menloparkcitycalifornia/PST045224 https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/sanmateocitycal...
  - iknowstuff 8mo ago
    Which side is the rich side?
    - alephnerd 8mo ago
      280 to El Camino is "oldish rich" (made their millions in the 1980s-2000s), the El Camino to 101 is "new rich" (made their millions in the 2000s-2010s), and 101 to Meta used to be a Samoan ghetto (literally, redlining was legal until the 60s and unofficially the norm until the 90s) until they were gentrified out. The old money (rich before tech) to the West of 280 in Woodside and Portola Valley.
    - pottertheotter 8mo ago
      South of 101
  - jen20 8mo ago
    > opens the same doors in the Bay that a Bel Air address does in Los Angeles or an Austin Hills address does in Austin. West Lake Hills perhaps (which is not technically Austin) - Austin Hills is not remotely prestigious.
    - alephnerd 8mo ago
      > West Lake Hills perhaps Yep! That's what I meant - Rob Roy, Westlake Hills, Barton Creek around the country clubs, and Lost Creek. Those are the equivalents of much of Menlo Park and Atherton, and I know of a number of people who lived in Menlo+Atherton and moved to those areas of Austin in order to front-run taxes in the run-up of some significant exits.

onlyrealcuzzo 8mo ago

Menlo Park has a higher population density than Austin... The majority of it is not Bel Air...

alephnerd 8mo ago
> The majority of it is not Bel Air... Menlo Park was never a "middle class" town. The 101 was always the (literal) redline. The median household income is $210K [0] and it's the same demographic, unlike historically lower middle class but now upper middle class San Mateo [1]. A Menlo Park home address that is on the correct side of the 101 opens the same doors in the Bay that a Bel Air address does in Los Angeles or an Austin Hills address does in Austin. Rich doesn't equal conspicuous, especially in the Bay Area - "Wealth is quiet, rich is loud, poor is flashy" [0] - https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/menloparkcitycalifornia/PST045224 https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/menloparkcityca... [1] - https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/sanmateocitycalifornia,menloparkcitycalifornia/PST045224 https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/sanmateocitycal...
- iknowstuff 8mo ago
  Which side is the rich side?
  - alephnerd 8mo ago
    280 to El Camino is "oldish rich" (made their millions in the 1980s-2000s), the El Camino to 101 is "new rich" (made their millions in the 2000s-2010s), and 101 to Meta used to be a Samoan ghetto (literally, redlining was legal until the 60s and unofficially the norm until the 90s) until they were gentrified out. The old money (rich before tech) to the West of 280 in Woodside and Portola Valley.
  - pottertheotter 8mo ago
    South of 101
- jen20 8mo ago
  > opens the same doors in the Bay that a Bel Air address does in Los Angeles or an Austin Hills address does in Austin. West Lake Hills perhaps (which is not technically Austin) - Austin Hills is not remotely prestigious.
  - alephnerd 8mo ago
    > West Lake Hills perhaps Yep! That's what I meant - Rob Roy, Westlake Hills, Barton Creek around the country clubs, and Lost Creek. Those are the equivalents of much of Menlo Park and Atherton, and I know of a number of people who lived in Menlo+Atherton and moved to those areas of Austin in order to front-run taxes in the run-up of some significant exits.