Oh, uh. Wait. I mean there are no jobs here. We definitely do not have tons of nice starter 3br homes under 200K. Do not move here, other experience developers!
Cost of living is rock-bottom (an actual Victorian mansion can be <$500k, and a beautiful rental apartment in one of the uber-trendy small towns such as Pittston can be had for $800/mo), the food is excellent, and there's very easy access to beautiful areas for hiking, biking, and fishing with multiple state parks and campgrounds within a short drive. The healthcare is among the best outside of a major medical center. Public education is generally very high quality, with private high schools, universities, and the medical school essentially free to high-performing or low income students.
Community banks are highly prevalent, and they're very willing to make small business loans to pre-profit companies with sufficient credibility. The area is also remarkably entrepreneurial, to the point where one is lionized for the mere act of forming a company, from a tech startup to a restaurant.
There's also been some solid tech exits, such as Solid Cactus, which was for an undisclosed sum, but they were already raking in annual profit in excess of $2 million.
Same reason Portland and Atlanta punch way above their weight class in terms of food scene.
1. Fiber put down as a deal for letting casinos in. 2. AT&T fiber to compete with google fiber 3. Google fiber
http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes151132.htm
"Metropolitan areas with the highest employment level in this occupation:"
There's only 40K jobs in SV, and if you go on HN reputation you'd think there's only like 3 jobs in all of Chicago, but the actual number is closer to 20K.
As a practical matter it will not matter much if there are 40K jobs or 20K jobs in a legacy geographic location, because my first choice will always be remote anyway.
Given that almost all jobs on a percentage basis are outside SV, by definition your best next job will almost certainly be out of state no matter where you live, in or out of CA.
But your right, number of companies is very relevant, since you interview for a company not a single job opening. 30,000 jobs at 20 companies represents 20 chances, not 30,000 chances.
It's easy to find another job, but it's doing some incredibly tedious and boring job for a manufacturing company or something like that.
Even if you interview somewhere the next day, it usually takes a week to get an offer and 2 weeks for the company to get its paperwork straight. Let alone counting the amount of time it takes to find someone actually hiring.