Those people (me) were often young, prioritizing living in a city, going to work a lot, don't min renting bc couldn't afford a house anyway, even in Tennessee.
Now they (me) have different priorities, say, having kids, working on something more meaningful, or just working less. And that's often quite hard to do in SFBA.
But for less than than the down payment on a 2BR apartment in the bay area (often much less), you can buy a house elsewhere. I grew up in Topeka, Kansas. Houses there can be like 20k. 3-4BR ones for 100k. You (I) don't want to live there, lol. But even Kansas City has 2-3BRs for 150k. You can leverage 'middle class' SFBA wealth into cash flow through things like real-estate investing, but good luck doing that happily while at a 40-70hr/wk job at a startup.
Also this person is retiring. If you plan your retirement with the traditional 'spend 4% of your net worth per year and you can go forever', you will be able to do that in an average-growth place, but not somewhere with cost of living increasing this much faster than a place like TN.
My biggest piece of advice to myself back then would be: Get a rent-controlled apartment in a neighborhood you wouldn't mind living in for 10yrs. Market price rents have doubled or more since 2010, and during the same amount of time (if you're young), your salary could at least double. During a period of growth like the last decade, the rent-control alone can save you enough money to buy a modest home in most parts of the country, let alone the rest of the world.
Tennessee is a great choice for a new home. The healthcare industry is the main driver of fantastic opportunities for those with superior computer skills. TN has no income tax, homes are very affordable here, etc.
We are not in the healthcare industry but we will be hiring several employees soon including a CTO and we do not expect any difficulties in finding people to work in our Nashville or Chattanooga location. With a number of colleges and universities here, opportunities seem plentiful for those wanting to teach in these areas as well.
I can’t imagine living in the Bay Area and having any chance of owning a home, seeing abject poverty throughout SF, and unrealistic tech employer work expectations (50-70 hr work weeks).
Tennessee, in comparison, sounds straight up delightful.
Tennessee probably isn't the most culturally amazing place around, but then Bay Area isn't just devoid of culture, it actively sucks it out of everything around. Or something like that.
