If you don't do R&D, if you don't aspire to founding a successful startup, if you don't need to work with the smartest people on the latest tech... the Bay Area does not make sense. But if you check yes to any of those, you get what you pay for.
i am sorry but this is a very elitist comment, please consider all the successful startups that are born outside of Bay Area/US and really smart people who work on them...
I'm not disparaging those people. However, the fact is that the best and brightest give up a lot to move to the bay area and build the things that change the world.