Thanks for your efforts.
Rents are proportionately expensive in Silicon Valley versus Memphis.
Yes, but it is not a causal relationship. The rents reflect the demand of the marketplace. There is a very good reason. Being able to live close to work, which is located next to hundreds of other companies so that they can share intellectual resources, etc is something that those people are willing to pay for. Note that this has the same effect as just exempting rent and food from the sales tax.