The wonderful thing about these other cities is that for the same price, you can live in the city for what it'd cost you to live in a far-flung suburb of San Francisco or D.C. The 1,200 square foot house where I grew up, in the D.C. suburbs, is almost $600k now. Why should I spend that money to be in an area that might as well be Oklahoma, when that'll buy me a bigger condo in Chicago with a lake view?
