Taxes and cost of living are very high. It doesn't go as far as you think. But there are a lot of beautiful people and culture.

Definitely agree with this -- the cost of living in NYC/SF is absurd, and there's not really much of a market elsewhere. A few choice cities (Austin, Chicago, maybe Atlanta?), but the entire market everywhere else is dead in the water by comparison. There are certainly jobs in those places, but it's going to be very scary if this bubble bursts again because a lot of people are going to be out of work, and I don't know if the smaller markets are going to grow enough to compensate for everyone going back home.

Personally, I found it did go as far as I thought it would, in NYC. It might even seem like a bargain if you're coming from Australia. You finally get to live large, banking the same sums as an apprentice electrician from Perth.

As a Perthan and ex-Darwinite, I don't find the reported cost of living in the Bay Area or NYC to be quite that bad.

Yeah, I'm already on a fairly sweet local maxima. I mostly want to move to do more interesting work in more interesting places.

I hope you do. If more of you move out here, the price might deflate to something less completely ridiculous.