New York and Bay Area tech companies can pay two or three times what the suburban office park type companies pay, and they have other benefits that add up as well (i.e. fully-paid tiny-copay health insurance). While housing costs will eat into that somehwat, whether you rent or buy, I don't think that they come close to cancelling out that increase.
Then, when we do go on vacation, there are more flights, since we're near major international airports. Since I live near EWR and JFK, I don't really need to consider connecting flights for European vacations, for example.
There are other less objective things for describing a "nice life", of course (IMO, renting vs. buying should be categorized as one of these, neither is superior). For example, non-chain restaurant availability, quality of cultural institutions, etc.