Would it be Ironic if Silicon Valley’s Own Tech Lead to a Decline?

As I thought about cost of living and salary comparisons I couldn’t stop thinking about the phenomenon in Silicon Valley. It is incredible how home prices in San Francisco, San Jose, and the surrounding area have shot up in the last few years. The widely accepted narrative is that all the high paying tech jobs are there so landlords can command high rents from the employees.

However, we are starting to see tech companies slowly move out of Silicon Valley and employees that can earn close to their current salaries would be financially much better off to move with them. I think we will see more of this, as it will greatly save money for the companies as well in office space costs.

Tech innovation allows work to happen Anywhere
Humorously it might be the advancement in tech that leads to a drop in Silicon Valley’s advantage. With teleconferencing, web meetings, and other tools people can work anywhere now. It used to be that it was essential to be in the “scene” to rub elbows with venture capitalists and collaborate with great minds, but I think we will see more and more of this done remotely.

Technology is one of the largest components in American and for that matter World business right now. If we see this continued dominance start to spread out of Silicon Valley and into other parts of the US and world we could start to see home prices actually become more uniform between more regions in the US. This is not a prediction, but something to think about especially because of the current extreme imbalance between housing costs in the Bay Area and most of the rest of the country.