Your commute happens about 250 days every year. A big earthquake happens maybe once ever 30 years. Buying a house takes 30 years to pay off. There's a limited supply of land; if all the houses in safe zones are taken, it may be worth it to some people to roll the dice on a house with natural hazards that's cheaper yet still close to everything. They're optimizing for the common case.
I’ve lived in blizzard territory and tornado alley. I have friends in hurricane zones. Parts of the US want to cook you alive. There’s nowhere in the country without something or another trying to kill you.
Michigan is pretty safe. We get tornados but that's about it. Not much poisonous or dangerous wildlife besides bears - just stay out of the wilderness.
...and surprisingly non-lethal, at least for the M6.5-7ish earthquakes in developed countries, similar to what would hit SF.
Loma Prieta killed 63 people. Northridge killed 57. The 2011 Christchurch earthquake killed 185. By contrast, about 30 people die every year from cold, 134 from heat, 44 from being hit by lightning, 85 from flooding, 69 from tornadoes [1], 103 from mass shootings, 21K from gun-related homicide, 26K from gun-related suicide [2], 70K from fentanyl [3], and 280K from obesity [4]. For completeness, excluding 9/11 about 15 people die per year from terrorism [5], with median 2 and mode 0.
Note the 3-order-of-magnitude difference between headline-worthy deaths like natural disasters and terrorism, vs. slow dangers like homicide, suicide, overdose, or obesity. You're about 7 times more likely to die from being struck by lightning than an earthquake.
Don't forget high deserts! You can get snowed in, drowned in a flood, cooked alive and then run down by a 30 mile an hour fire storm all in the same day if you're lucky!
San Francisco has a reputation for being cold. It’s just that we have the air conditioning running all the time. It’s basically sunny, low of 55°, high of 72°, year round. Twice a year it’ll get cold. A week a year it’ll get hot.
It’s the best weather anywhere to show off your nice jacket.
