If we go by the parent comment's "4x+" metric, and if we keep with the traditional personal finance advice of 33% maximum budget allocation to shelter with no other debt and that 33% covers PITI+M, that 33% expands to 1.32x of the budget. In other words, for compensating just shelter costs alone, you need a salary bump of 132%.

This doesn't account for the increased cost of living that should be compensated for, as well as any risk premium for moving in the first place. I don't see how people pencil out the numbers to convince themselves to move into either Silicon Valley or the Bay Area, and I'd honestly like to see how the numbers shake out if someone has made it work. Unless one is Fabrice Bellard-level quality, I don't anticipate most average arrivals to SV or BA ever getting a 200-250% salary increase to just stay in a Red Queen's Race personal-finance-wise.

The landowners of Bay Area are the new store owners of this new gold rush, profiting with much lower risk premiums from the majority of "prospectors"/programmers flocking to the new gold fields while the stories of "hits" keep luring in fresh meat each year.