Life choices always have an impact. I'm not judging you, because trust me, expensive areas like New York City (I love living there) are great, but blow during a pandemic since you're unable to enjoy what the actual city has to offer.
When I relocated back east, I made it a point to a) not live in the city since it'll be overpriced and I won't be able to enjoy the surrounding area and b) Price per square footage wouldn't make sense if I'm at home 24/7. So I went across the river and pay less for _a lot more_.
I know a lot of people are moving to Austin TX. They get a LOT more for their money. I was lucky to be on a month by month lease when the pandemic hit.
I've lived in Austin for just over 10 years and while there are major benefits over the coasts, the downside is the city is also importing the bad things.
Homelessness is off the charts with the street camping and violence that comes along with it. If you're familiar with SF, it's nothing like the Tenderloin but more like SOMA-lite.
In addition, shootings are way up. For context, there were 39 total in 2019. In the summer of 2020, we had 40 consecutive days of shootings. Further, the local DA has also adopted the mindset of not prosecuting "low level" crimes of any theft under $750.
Sacrificing what makes Austin compelling is not the way to go.
The city also has no even remotely sane urban planning, resulting in the worst sprawl I've seen anywhere in the USA in the last 10 years.
Austin isn't entirely alone with this: most of the sunbelt cities that are growing are doing so in the context of a complete lack of long term city planning. But Austin, IMO, is the worst right now. Even Phoenix, with an even more insane lack of water than Austin, has managed this side of things better.
I consider myself fairly liberal, but the current trend of progressive DAs failing to prosecute quality of life crimes (phrased as so-called "quality of life" in quotes) adds to my pessimism. It's happening in the cities with jobs and things to do, limiting the options if you don't subscribe to that social policy.
I was in Austin last year and was shocked by the homeless there. I spoke to a few people and they had informed me that some laws changed recently which allows them to live under bridges and the lots of churches etc.
I was taken back because I never thought Austin would have such a problem.
In my opinion crowded cities really suck, during pandemics. I love to huge city I'm living in. But during the last 9-10 months I only had all the downsides of city living and none of the upsides. If I were not that attached to the apartment I'm renting currently for how hard it is to find one with its characteristics for the price, I would have long ago terminated the contract and moved to the country side for the time being as a large part of my colleagues.
I was fortunate enough that my lease expired back in July so I looked for somewhere a bit further out of the city with more room. I pay a smidge more each month, but I probably at least doubled the size of my place and I have a dedicated office now
I live in a city where an apartment costs 1500 a square foot, so a two bedroom apartment for a single person is barely affordable.
This pandemic has taught me that crowded cities suck.