> But anything within a 2 hour commute requires a minimum of $200k salary to survive

2 hour commute is a huge distance, so this is nowhere near true.

2 hours east is roughly Grass Valley, or anything in between (including Sacramento).

2 hours north is roughly Boonville, or anything in between.

2 hours south, depends which way you go, but could be Soledad, or anything in between.

(commute times from google maps)

That's a huge range, and all of those towns are far cheaper than anything in the Bay Area/Silicon Valley.