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Comment by evgeniysharapov | Hacker News Reader

Someone probably expressed this idea, but why why why tech companies stay in SF area ? Their operations do not depend on being local to SF. It looks like the tech sector is the single driver of the SF economy. Everyone is quick to blame regulations or residents who support these regulations, but why not to press tech giants to move, even gradually, their operations elsewhere, or distribute it across the whole state/country/world, starting from depressed areas with no jobs.

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Putting aside any theories around the "Cult of Silicon Valley", the typical answer I get when I ask others that same question is that "tech" companies group in these areas, especially SF, because it makes it easier to get the best talent; since everyone already lives in the same area, there's hypothetically no moving expenses that would stop candidates from accepting a job, especially when it comes to candidates with families.

Personally, I don't completely buy that explanation, and think there's an unspoken cult-like quality to the tech scene of SF/SV that confines it to a few cramped spaces in the country. Big "tech" still represents the modern form of the American Dream and the Gold Rush to countless people, and San Francisco is symbolic of that idealism in and of itself. Making six figures and living in the outskirts working for a company nobody's heard of isn't as cool as working for Unicorn X in Mountain View, CA.

I would take a 20% pay cut to be able to live somewhere like the Bay Area with its coastal scenery and perfect weather. But as it is, I'd need to triple my salary to be able to afford to live there.

A lot of tech companies are opening/expanding offices in LA.

Companies are profit-maximizers, so if it were beneficial to move, individuals would not need to press them to do so.

If their calculation is to stay and even expand in the Bay Area, it would be best to understand why (concentration of talent? network effects? etc?).

employees don't have enough bargaining power to push wages up, so FAANGS only need to pay a 50% premium for wages, relative to other parts of the country. The decision makers who decide where people work would rather have the convenience of not getting on an airplane than saving 50% on Labor cost.

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