The great advantage of SF is its astonishingly consistent climate. I can't speak to Tel Aviv at all, but I'd say make sure you're comfortable working at typical temperatures there - I think that's a key (and unnoticed) part of productivity.
Tel Aviv's weather is very comfortable. Hasn't snowed in tel aviv since 1951.
Summers can get hot and humid, but air conditioners are the norm, and dress code is shorts and flip flops. And Tel Aviv has an awesome beach you can actually swim in.
To quote wikipedia:
Tel Aviv experiences a Mediterranean climate with hot summers and generally mild, wet winters. The average annual temperature is 20.2 °C (68.4 °F). Average temperature of the sea is 18–20 °C (64–68 °F) during the winter, and 24–29 °C (75–84 °F) during the summer.
In January, the coldest month, the average high temperature is 18.3 °C (64.9 °F), the low temperature averages 11.1 °C (52.0 °F) and the average sea temperature is 19 °C (66 °F). August, the warmest month, averages a high of 30 °C (86 °F), and a low of 22 °C (72 °F), with the average sea temperature being 30 °C (86 °F). Generally, the summer season lasts about six months, from May to October. Three months – March, April and November – are transitional, while December, January and February are the coldest months. The city receives 528 millimeters (20.8 in) of precipitation annually, which mostly occurs in the months of October through May. Summers are generally dry, and the area experiences over 300 sunny days per year.
SF has a lot of advantages over Tel Aviv (Being closer to Bay area VCs, being closer to the US market and customers, time zone differences) - but I'm not sure weather is one of them.
Tel Aviv has a vibrant startup scene and lots of tech talent. Also - a lot of american expats. It's really easy to get by speaking only English and a few basic Hebrew words.
As a native to (greater) Tel Aviv now living in Berlin, I much prefer Oceanic weather.
~9 months of the year you'd be sweating if you go outside & do even the slightest physical activity, like leisurely walking or cycling (mostly due to the high humidity, it's not actually that hot most of the time).
Berlin is too cold for about 3-4 months per year but the rest of the time is pleasantly cool, like San Francisco or London: bad bathing weather, but good working weather.
Other problems of Tel Aviv: poor transit, the resulting bad traffic, air pollution (it doesn't rain often and occasionally gets sand storms in the summer), noise pollution. Costs are not as prohibitive as London, NYC, or SF but significantly higher than Berlin.
I guess if you enjoy LA, Tel Aviv might be for you?
As far as transit goes - if you live and work in Tel
Aviv, you can pretty much walk wherever you need.
This is a big if, as few Israelis can afford to live in Tel Aviv (we couldn't, despite earning significantly above median).
The average gross wage in Israel is 9,702.60 ils per month [1] (2277.78 Euro). According to a quick check [2] this gives a net of 8,302.57 ils per month (1948.94 Euro). A small apartment in good repair in a not-terrible part of Tel Aviv can easily cost ~6000 ils per month, before utilities.
Realistically if you work in Tel Aviv you either live in the suburbs, are in the top ~10% of wage earners, or are young and don't have a family to support (and live with roommates).
"A small apartment in good repair in a not-terrible part of Tel Aviv can easily cost ~6000 ils per month, before utilities."
We probably have different definitions of "not terrible part of tel aviv".
1BRs (What israeli's call 2 rooms) go for 4000 shekels in Florentine. Walking distance from the startup scene of Rothschild, and 20 minutes by bus to the google and checkpoint area.
Which is fine for a single guy. But would you want to raise kids in a 1BR in Florentine (polluted, noisy, somewhat rough population in adjacent neighborhoods)?
What are average wages like in NYC/DC? More than ~$30k gross, like in Israel? What is the transit like in NYC with regards to the ability of the middle and lower classes to live outside of Manhattan?
Remember that OP suggested Tel Aviv's bad transit is not an issue cause you can walk anywhere if you live in the city (mostly if you live somewhat near the center/downtown, but nm that for now).
Pre-tax average is in the 80k to 90k USD range for DC, though obviously double that if you're thinking about a couple. DC transit is fairly good in-city, going to the suburbs its branches rather than a grid system so the train lines will essentially take you from home to work and that's it.
Walkability depends on where you live. In the suburbs of DC (virginia/maryland), there's quite a few walkable neighborhoods but they're small and separated from the next walkable neighborhood by about 3-5 miles.
Are you non-Jewish by any chance? I've had a great time in Israel as a tourist, but often wondered whether I'd be able to fit in there as a non-Jewish (and non-American for that matter) person. I'm not overtly religious in any other way, and I have Jewish people in my family, but there's no way I can pass for Jewish in any extended conversation.
Not the parent, but I think it would be doable albeit awkward at times. But there a lot of not-so-great things about living in Israel compared to Western Europe and North America.
