Uh, I dunno. I lived in the Bay Area (Santa Clara & San Jose, specifically.. far from the city but still enjoyably commutable by rail) for a couple years. I then moved to Indiana and took a 65% pay cut. The bay is expensive, but it's not THAT expensive. As long as you live within your means and understand that 80k in the bay area is not the same as 80k in Indiana (where I live now) you can have a very nice lifestyle.

Housing "eating up all the salary" is hyperbole, plain and simple, unless you're talking about the segment of people who make 100k+ but are still living paycheck to paycheck because they live outside their means.