Why I Moved Back to California from Texas
I moved back to California from Texas because I’ve decided to focus on AI, and it’s clear that the San Francisco Bay Area leads in that industry. All other issues don’t matter as much.
My History with California and Texas
I originally moved to San Francisco in early 2014. It was great to be part of Silicon Valley, but I decided to leave in late 2021 due to the extreme overreaction to COVID of both the San Francisco city government and the California state government.
I lived in the greater Austin, TX, metro area from early 2022 until early 2025. I truly enjoyed living in Texas, particularly the surprisingly great barbecue, very friendly people, and freedom-oriented culture. Texas also has a robust technology industry, and for many people outside of AI, it is one of the best options in the United States.
However, the network effect of AI in the Bay Area is simply too strong to ignore. I decided to sell, donate, or discard all my belongings in May 2025 and moved back to California, bringing only my Apple Pro Display XDR and my Herman Miller Aeron chair. I plan to focus on AI in the Bay Area for the foreseeable future.
Ups and Downs of California
Ups:
- 100x more entrepreneurs, engineers, and VCs working on AI than anywhere else in the world
- Great climate and geography (nearly perfect)
Downs:
- High cost of living and high taxes
- Poor government policies
- Traffic
- Extreme homelessness and degeneracy in some areas
Ups and Downs of Texas
Ups:
- Low cost of living
- Truly great barbecue, which I ate nearly every day
- Many technologists (though not as many as in California)
- Decent weather (very hot in summer but not too cold in winter)
- Very freedom-oriented government policies
Downs:
- Austin has approximately 1/100th the number of entrepreneurs, engineers, and VCs working on AI as the Bay Area
- Traffic
- Some homelessness and degeneracy in certain areas, but nowhere near as severe as in California
Conclusion
Because I’ve decided to focus on AI, the fact that the San Francisco Bay Area hosts all the premier AI companies, while Austin is only a secondary hub by comparison, outweighs all other issues. As such, I’ve decided to move back. I’m currently staying at a hotel in Belmont, CA, between San Francisco and Palo Alto, and I plan to find a permanent place to live soon.