Security, low crime rate, very few homeless people, drug addicts etc.. I can basically go to a party, get drunk there and take a walk after that in any part of the city during night without being afraid that some homeless person will attack me. If you ask me, thats a big pro for staying here. Sure, I would probably earn more if I did the same job in San Francisco, but then I would have to deal with a much worse social situation, and I would have to be more cautious.
Does the crime rate actually differ much between SF and Vienna? A quick google search provides very little info, but suggests there is not much difference. I haven't been to SF lately, but crime is a negligible issue in NYC.
Though SF may be a special case - I've heard they have extremely generous benefits and the homeless move to SF to collect them. Can someone with more knowledge comment?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_cities_by_crime_r...
San Francisco has more homicides with its population of ~800k than all of Austria combined with a population of 8,5 million.
Though the poverty and hopelessness can be a little sad if you walk through the bad areas.
I am just against the notion that propping up that random incompetent guy (at least to some degree, so he wont roam the streets doing crazy stuff) is always a bad decision.
Preventing those people from failing miserably (and the negative side effects that come with it) - thats basically why we have a lower income over here.
And my pricetag for giving up all that is higher than just doubling my income.
I reckon the "effective" crime rate for the places of SF where someone with a developer's salary may choose to live are comparable to those of the similar places in Vienna. I bet the same goes for most other "quality of life" proxies.
As an austrian colleague once put it: Maul auf oder Geldbörsl auf!