1) my uncle has a modest 2 bedroom 1 bath 800sq ft in Daly City (which is cheap compared to SF proper), and he is working on about $3200 a month for rent alone. My 3 bed 2 bath 1300sq ft in a good neighborhood in AZ is $900 a month.
2) I just disagree with this. My “town” is about 25 miles from end to end and it takes about 35 minutes to drive from on end to the other during the busiest time of day. Whenever I am in SF, going from Daly City to the Golden Gate is 11 miles, takes 55 minutes according to google at the time of writing and has a $9 toll. And that is mostly freeway. If you go during after work rush hour (say, trying to drive home from GGB to South Bay) you’re looking at over 3 hour commute.
I could be wrong about some of the estimates, but just trying to provide more context