What is more important?

What is more important? Your career or your freedom?

So many people choose to move to expensive places like NYC, SF Bay Area, and Philadelphia to pursue their careers. Those places are expensive not because of demand alone but because of socialistic city and state overlords -- I mean elected officials. They pass regulations left and right and make living in those places something only the rich can easily afford.

Given that, why do people willingly move there when they can get a job elsewhere. Say they're in the high-tech field. They could go to a free/cheap place like Austin or Research Triangle.

Maybe they think they'll make it big in their careers. For some people that is true. But the path there is long and hard. Few people make it. And they sacrifice their health, their families, and maybe even their sanity.

Or, they want the excitement of a bustling city and can't stand being anywhere else. I can't say much there. To each his own.