My guess is, anecdotally, that there is very high turnover, but still net positive population growth. I participated in YC but really had no desire to be in SV

My guess is, anecdotally, that there is very high turnover, but still net positive population growth. I participated in YC but really had no desire to be in SV and thus moved back to Boston where I feel life/culture/people are much more balanced. Being in SV for work, I felt like I was in a perpetual startup/tech bubble. I think the parent commenter paints a gloomy but somewhat realistic picture - it 'works' because there's a high volume of people looking for success, but it can be very stifling for some (such as myself).