Shh, west coast people have a higher quality of life than you! They can drive to better-than-average hikes on weekends! That's such a huge part of their identities that nowhere else could possibly be bearable!
The point I was trying to make is that your belief that access to the mountains is actually the most important thing for lots of people (especially the software developer type) is absurd.
If you're living in a city, your day-to-day lifestyle is going to be pretty much the same anywhere in the US, or really anywhere in the developed world.
