I left New York not because I couldn't afford the prices (if I stayed in finance, that'd be a non-issue) but because I started hating what the high real estate

I left New York not because I couldn't afford the prices (if I stayed in finance, that'd be a non-issue) but because I started hating what the high real estate prices did to the culture. You do get to a point, around 35, where your only options (if staying in NYC) are to move into management or finance. Non-financial programmers don't make enough to live there, and managers don't get to program. I also think that New York's tech scene has a lot of quantity but not much in the way of quality. For every good company there are 50 dipshit companies founded by fired bankers and real estate guys who think waterfall is a valid software methodology and not an anti-pattern. High housing prices truly are culturally toxic. I'm surprised more people don't get that.