Currently renting in Mountain View, CA so even if we did stay in the bay forever, it is unlikely that it will be in this house. DW hates silicon valley, so I'm guessing long term we won't be here, even though I love the area.
Places I've lived:
Dublin, Ireland - low COL when we were there, my dad was supporting us on a Professor's salary which in 70s Ireland was a high prestige/low pay occupation
Cork, Ireland - similar
Columbus, OH - no idea, was only 5...
Setauket, Long Island - don't think it was low COL, but my dad could afford it on a professor's salary at SUNY Stony Brook.
Weston, CT - not COL afaik, but again much more affordable back then.
Fox Chapel, PA - definitely not a low COL area, I'd be willing to live out here again
Oberlin, OH - low COL area, where I was for college. Wouldn't want to live there, way too few amenities that I care about now.
Pittsburgh, PA - lived on the south side for a year after graduating, low COL area, still appealing event though I know the city has changed tons in the decades since
Fairlawn, NJ - High COL, but we had 5 software engineers splitting a house we were renting, so it was cheap as heck for us. No particular draw to living there again, just a random jersey suburbia
Hoboken, NJ - high COL, would be down with living there again because the PATH makes in and out of NYC so easy, but I think it has gotten dramatically more popular and harder to find a place to rent since I lived there in the 90s...
San Jose, CA - medium COL (almost certainly high now), walking distance of the heart of downtown, which by NYC standards was pathetic, but so it goes. I'd be ok living there again.
Campbell, CA - high COL, lovely downtown, in the middle of silicon valley, I'd love to live there again
Milpitas, CA - low COL by silicon valley standards, which means high COL still.
I'd be ok living here again.
Renton, WA - medium COL, fair bit of crime, but yeah, I'd live near WotC again. Really fun watching the plane fuselages go by on the train lines, hundreds at a time.
Milpitas, CA - see above
Cupertino, CA - high COL, loved the area. DW would never consider moving there, way less walkable than Mountain View
San Francisco, CA - high COL, the move here enabled DW moving in with me as DGF, loved living there, even though it was a little isolating from friends down in silicon valley, would be happy living there again if it weren't for that pesky excessively high property costs.
Mountain View, CA - super high COL, probably wouldn't live in this particular town if I got to stay in the south bay.
I'm guessing that despite my desire to stay in the area, odds are decent DW will want a move to Germany somewhere in the next 5-10 years. Upside, the bay area makes that look like a low COL area! Downside, I have to try and make new friends in my 50s...
Early moves were driven by my dad's career. Moves from college on were driven by my own.
I'm prepared to make staying in this area work for retirement, but if we end up somewhere lower COL and I get to retire earlier, I'm ready.