To each their own, but the people who love the area love it because of its weather (meh), family ties to the area, and highly affordable cost of living tied to owning your house for decades, or having rent control for decades. If you're a newcomer, you don't get the last one, which is a huge determinant. It's all you can think about for the area's youth, and the area's old-timers forget about it very easily.<p>SF is like Sunnyvale in that it's way overpriced, highly-paying, and close to (but doesn't have) scenery. (Yes, I get that there's all kinds of scenery in SF, but I'm referring to Market St. downtown where all there is to look at is buildings, people, pigeons, buses, needles, broken beer bottles, feces, and maybe the bay). SF is older, denser, more decrepit, and smells a lot more like human urine. Having a car in SF is more trouble than it's worth, whereas in Sunnyvale it's a bit less clear-cut.<p>If you don't have ties to the area, and you don't have to be earning well into the six figures (or have to be there to be earning well into the six figures), I'd skip both Seattle and SFBay. They're rat races, the both of them.