BREAKING NEWS: New York resident moves somewhere else for their first job

This New York Times article touting folks moving to middle of the country caught my eye today (emphasis mine):

Affordable Housing Draws Middle Class to Inland Cities 

...Rising rents and the difficulty of securing a mortgage on the coasts have proved a boon to inland cities that offer the middle class a firmer footing and an easier life. In the eternal competition among urban centers, the shift has produced some new winners. 

Oklahoma City, for example, has outpaced most other cities in growth since 2011, becoming the 12th-fastest-growing city last year. It has also won over a coveted demographic, young adults age 25 to 34, going from a net loss of millennials to a net gain. Other affordable cities that have jumped in the growth rankings include several in Texas, including El Paso and San Antonio, as well as Columbus, Ohio, and Little Rock, Ark. 

Newcomers in Oklahoma City have traded traffic jams and preschool waiting lists for master suites the size of their old apartments. The sons of Lorin Olson, a stem cell biologist who moved here from New York’s Upper East Side, now ride bikes in their suburban neighborhood and go home to a four-bedroom house. 

It is not particularly shocking that Oklahoma City has lower real estate prices than New York City. And yet we read this later...:

Mr. Olson, 42, who was recruited by the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation after finishing his postdoctoral work, said his family had not shed tears over leaving New York. “There’s a little less to do, yeah,” he said. “But now we can afford to do it.”

I get the sense from Dr. Olson's website that this is his first PI position. In that sense, then, I don't think it's the low cost-of-living nor the excellent play of the Oklahoma City Thunder that have brought him to that city, it is his first position as an independent researcher.

Also, I suggest to the reporter that they check again after 5 or 6 years to see if Dr. Olson remains in Oklahoma City, or whether his next position will be on the coasts. Hmmmmmmmm....

(Now, there is probably an article to be written about whether or not there are more entry-level scientific researcher positions in the middle of the country than there are on the coasts, but that's not the angle of this article.)