I’m an engineer who left Silicon Valley for Philadelphia. I was worried about leaving the tech hub, but I love Philly’s lower cost of living.

Adam Fletcher left Silicon Valley for Philadelphia. 

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Adam Fletcher, a 28-year-old product engineer who moved from San Francisco, California, to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in November 2022. According to NerdWallet, the cost of living in Philly is about 40% less than in San Francisco.

The following has been lightly edited for clarity.

I was born and raised in Philadelphia and loved it. But when it came time for college, I was accepted into Stanford.

I’ve always been really interested in green technology, renewable energy, and solar stuff. I studied material science engineering as an undergrad, and then I stayed for a fifth year and got my master’s degree in electrical engineering.

After graduating, I spent almost three years living in the Bay Area, working at Applied Materials, a semiconductor company. I lived in San Francisco, right on the edge of Mission and Portero Hill, and commuted to work in Santa Clara.

Silicon Valley was a hub of innovation

In the 2010s and early 2020s, California was the place to be if you wanted to do tech, engineering, or renewable energy.

At Applied Materials, I was learning how to be an engineer in the real world. But I wasn’t working on energy efficiency or renewable energy, which was my dream.

I found that I was clashing with the culture of Silicon Valley. There are a ton of amazing people there, but generally speaking, I felt like people could be “fake nice.” I attributed that attitude to the Silicon Valley atmosphere. I don’t want to call it cutthroat, but it was tough at times to join a community of really driven people who would sometimes drive themselves over the edge.

I’m more of a “go-at-your-own-pace” kind of person. I don’t think 16-hour days are a path to success.

In Silicon Valley, you have a lot of Google people, a lot of Meta people, and, at the time I was there, a lot of Tesla people. And that’s the core of who they are. I grew tired of the way people would define themselves by their jobs rather than who they are as a person.

An aerial view of Silicon Valley. 

Leaving California was always in the back of my mind

After graduating, I was worried I would have to choose between staying in California and having a career I liked or leaving California and having a career I didn’t like. The career opportunities in Silicon Valley seemed more abundant.

But ending up with a career that wasn’t what I wanted while I was in California helped push me to take the next step.

In 2022, I started applying to East Coast jobs, specifically looking for roles in renewable energy.

I got an offer from my current workplace, Carbon Reform, in September 2022. They’re a Philadelphia-based startup working on sustainability. It was right up my alley.

I moved back and started at the end of November 2022.

I definitely had some nerves before moving. I was questioning whether this was right for my career. The sustainability hub is in Silicon Valley, and moving to the other side of the country felt like I was separating myself from that.

But I was also so excited. It felt surreal that I had found something I wanted to do, and I got the bonus of being on the East Coast.

At Carbon Reform, we’re working on devices that connect to HVAC systems in existing office buildings. They remove the carbon dioxide from the workspace air and allow you to recycle the air without having to bring in new air from outside.

I love my work now. I’m feeling a lot more fulfilled.

Philadelphia is much more affordable

It was so expensive to live in California. I had to live with two roommates to afford the cost of living, and that was for a spot on the edge of San Francisco.

Now, I have my own space in Philly. I pay about the same as I was paying in California, where I was splitting with three people.

I moved to a Philly neighborhood called Rittenhouse. It’s a combination of older people and a bunch of young professionals and grad students who live there. There’s always something to do around here. It’s close to a huge park where they have shows and dining. It’s a great way to meet new people and not break the bank.

We also have an incredible sports scene here. Between the Eagles and the Phillies, sometimes Philadelphia feels like a big college town.

Philadelphia 

Philly’s tech and business scene is growing.

We have the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University right in the city. There are incredible students coming out of those schools.

I think the city has started taking advantage of all those really intelligent people. It seems like Philadelphia is putting in the work to try to keep them.

That said, Philly still seems like a little secret sometimes. I don’t want to tell everybody about it because once the secret is out, people will move here, and costs will go up.

It’s in a really unique pocket location-wise. You have the financial capital of New York nearby and the political capital of DC close, too. You get the benefits of both without the negative effects.

I miss parts of California sometimes. I miss my friends and the access to incredible types of food.

But my hope is to stay in Philly for the long term. As long as I have a job and am getting paid what I think I should be making, my goal is to be here.