Question about the Bay Area?

[Lesley Resnick]

First, I think the bay area is coolest city to live in, bar none.

Except for one thing that is a constant topic of conversation, the cost.

I don't want to over simplify the issue, but if you have a housing shortage, causing the costs to rise, build more. Supply and demand.

A city that invented the smart phone, modern networking, the database, etc.  Can't figure out where to house its population?

For example, the population density of the following cities:

• New York, N.Y.: 27,012.4.
• San Francisco, Calif.: 17,179.2.
• Jersey City, N.J.: 16,736.6.
• Boston, Mass.: 12,792.7.
• Santa Ana, Calif.: 11,900.8.
• Chicago, Ill.: 11,841.8.
• Newark, N.J.: 11,458.3.

New York is 1.5x more dense than SF.  Jersey City is closer in density to SF than SF is to NYC. 

Granted there are mountains and some terrane issues, but there are also only a limited number of high rise buildings in the city.  There is also a huge volume of single family townhomes.  Think, "Full House" TV show.  

I am not even suggesting fixing the workforce housing issue.  The per square foot cost is $1k in SF ($1.6m average home)

What am I missing?