How do people afford expensive bay area houses?

My TC is quite high (>1M), as is my net worth (~10M). A good chunk (~half) of the net worth is in espp stocks from various companies.

I'd like to move to a nicer place, but the prices in the bay area are insane. Most of the houses that I'd even consider buying based on the area that makes sense commute wise are $7M or more. My current house was $1M in 2012, and is worth about $3M now (included in NW above minus remaining mortgage). To have a sufficient down payment for such a property would require me liquidating almost all my shares, incurring significant capital gains tax.

I'm not grouching about the situation, and feel very lucky to have attained wealth. But I'm curious how so many people in the bay area seem to be able to pay for houses at price points like these. I feel like I'm unlikely to get paid much more than I currently am, so I wonder if the only viable paths are inherited wealth or highly unlikely startup success.