“It’s an apprenticeship business,” Adam Kahn, the founder of the headhunter firm Odyssey Search Partners, told Business Insider. “For the most part, the opportunity to surround yourself with the best people is going to be in major money centers.”

“If you want to sit next to your PM, you need to be where your PM is,” he said. And while there are senior leaders who have decamped to sunnier, cheaper spots around the country, New York, Chicago, and San Francisco still have a significant concentration of people.”