You're spending 50% of your monthly post tax income on rent. That's not what I would call affordable.
Meanwhile, the average American couple would have less than $3.5k before paying, regardless of what their rent is.
We also save a lot (and are healthier and save time) by cooking at home instead of going out to eat.
So, really, we get to both live in downtown SF, and travel pretty much whenever we feel like it.
I ask because I'm a remote worker for an SF startup, home base in a low cost of living area, but I travel frequently as well (but the home was purchased somewhere where the house is paid in full already and the monthly upkeep is ~$500/month).
Two reasons why I choose to stay here: 1) building said network so I can go back to proper nomading easier, and 2) access to the startup lottery; nobody gives shares/options to remote workers and/or independent consultants/freelancers
Lottery is a nice potential upside with next to zero downside as an engineer
I received equity as part of my remote worker compensation (my entire team is remote though).