- I've lived in the $4 Bay Area for almost all my life, and there are many things outsiders get wrong about it.
- For one, San Francisco is really only home to a small number of Bay Area residents - especially with the rapidly increasing cost of housing and living.
- Here are some surprising things outsiders might not know about the Bay Area, coming from someone who grew up there.
- $4.
For the first 18 years of my life or so, I called the $4 Bay Area home. Growing up in $4 - the southern portion of the Bay Area - my experience was similar to that of many other people of my generation who came of age in the region.
Born to immigrants working in the tech world, I spent most of my adolescence living in a sea of suburbs, and from an early age felt pressure to succeed academically and set my ambitions high.
For me, this upbringing seemed like nothing special, and I always found the way that people from outside the Bay Area idolized life there to be rather strange. However, over the years, as I've left the region and lived elsewhere, I've come to see the area much more holistically, with all its flaws and virtues.
I realize now that the Bay is a unique place after all - but not for the reasons you might think. Here are 10 things I wish outsiders understood about the region, from someone who grew up there.