Ask HN: Moving Out of Silicon Valley because of housing? Where to?

#1

Post by Apocryphon » Tue, Mar 08, 2016, 6:35 PM UTC

Has anyone moved out of SF/SV to work in a different tech city? If so, where?

Currently Seattle, New York, Austin, Portland, and Boston/Cambridge seem to be the hot destinations as secondary tech hubs. But their costs of living are likely climbing as well, especially Seattle and Austin. How about Raleigh, how's their startup scene? Or Chicago, Denver, New Orleans, or Nashville?

Not to mention cities outside of the U.S.

Re: Ask HN: Moving Out of Silicon Valley because of housing? Where to?

#2

Post by Vnjjkkll » Tue, Mar 08, 2016, 6:53 PM UTC

NYC. Its still expensive obviously but more diverse. Not a mono-culture. Cold/long winters are not much fun. But there are nicer small classic american town in NY and Long Island, which can be affordable. Train commute is ok if you can work remote a couple days per week and get some work done on the trains. Beaches are close, skiing upstate is decent. Lots of opportunity in NYC/Brooklyn. A very nice home (4 bedroom, good schools, 1 acre, pretty area) can be had for under $1M.

Re: Ask HN: Moving Out of Silicon Valley because of housing? Where to?

#3

Post by eorge_g » Tue, Mar 08, 2016, 6:56 PM UTC

Here's an HBR article talking about New Orleans push to become a relevant hub and the difficulties of stealing mindshare from "the big three":

https://hbr.org/2016/03/what-makes-new-orleans-a-startup-cit...

Re: Ask HN: Moving Out of Silicon Valley because of housing? Where to?

#4

Post by relaunched » Tue, Mar 08, 2016, 6:56 PM UTC

Minneapolis. - Affordable, great culture / food, low unemployment, tons of public companies, rapidly growing startup scene (100 meetup groups)...If you have kids it gets even better. The suburbs are amazing, with great parks, schools, etc. Work life balance is the norm.

Re: Ask HN: Moving Out of Silicon Valley because of housing? Where to?

#5

Post by brianwawok » Tue, Mar 08, 2016, 6:56 PM UTC

I am biased but I liked Chicago. You can get a good house for a decent price. If you want to raise a family though, inside the city schools suck - you have to play a lottery or try to test into a good school or pay for private.

That said you won't find startup jobs like SF, a lot of the top paying jobs like NYC are in finance.

Re: Ask HN: Moving Out of Silicon Valley because of housing? Where to?

#6

Post by Vnjjkkll » Tue, Mar 08, 2016, 6:58 PM UTC

brianwawok wrote: post #5

I am biased but I liked Chicago. You can get a good house for a decent price. If you want to raise a family though, inside the city schools suck - you have to play a lottery or try to test into a good school or pay for private. That said you won't find startup jobs like SF, a lot of the top paying jobs like NYC are in finance.

There is a vibrant startup culture in NYC. Finance jobs may pay more but probably not worth it due to culture and longer hours, more issues/rules around security, etc.

Re: Ask HN: Moving Out of Silicon Valley because of housing? Where to?

#7

Post by chris_va » Tue, Mar 08, 2016, 7:01 PM UTC

We just moved to Seattle from SF. Highly recommended, but as you say more expensive than Portland (still 1/2 the price of the bay area). Cost follows opportunity, and it is harder to find a tech scene in Portland.

NYC is a great place to live (have done so), and I would pick it over Seattle (at least for a year or two) if you don't have kids, are young, and can afford it.

Chicago is great, less tech than NYC/Seattle, so I would set up a job before moving.

I would skip Denver, but I haven't spent as much time there. The city just felt uninteresting. I liked Boulder, but it is a small town.

Re: Ask HN: Moving Out of Silicon Valley because of housing? Where to?

#8

Post by spillihp » Tue, Mar 08, 2016, 7:26 PM UTC

Want to put in a quick plug for Sacramento. Great quality of life here, generally great weather (sometimes a little hot in summer, but sunny most of the year), affordable housing with rents between $500 and $1,000 (and affordable to buy a house - still good places available for under $300k), nice neighborhoods, great amenities, bars, restaurants, all that. Good access to awesome outdoors. And really easy to get to the Bay if need be. By Amtrak and BART it takes me 2 hours 12 min to get from downtown Sac to Downtown SF - regardless of traffic (and you can easily work - or drink a beer - on the train). Given how much more affordable it is I am really surprised more folks don't set up shop out here and just head into the bay on occasion / when need be.

Re: Ask HN: Moving Out of Silicon Valley because of housing? Where to?

#9

Post by cbanek » Tue, Mar 08, 2016, 7:30 PM UTC

I just moved out of California to Las Vegas because of the housing prices. Las Vegas cost of living is easily half that of LA/SF, and there's no income taxes. This can especially be a boon if you're leaving a company where you're exercising ISO options (you can exercise once you move to Nevada, and not pay CA AMT tax).

I wouldn't say there's a lot of tech jobs, but there are some, and if you're working remote, it's a great place with a lot of 24/7 life.

Re: Ask HN: Moving Out of Silicon Valley because of housing? Where to?

#10

Post by HeyLaughingBoy » Tue, Mar 08, 2016, 7:32 PM UTC

relaunched wrote: post #4

Minneapolis. - Affordable, great culture / food, low unemployment, tons of public companies, rapidly growing startup scene (100 meetup groups)...If you have kids it gets even better. The suburbs are amazing, with great parks, schools, etc. Work life balance is the norm.

+1 Minneapolis. I moved out of the city itself some years ago for more space out in the country, but it is by far the nicest place I've ever lived. I found myself wishing I had moved there 10 years earlier.