Actually, alot of people do. He is a very successful and philanthropic person:
http://www.insidephilanthropy.com/guide-to-individual-donors/peter-thiel.html
The reason this statement by Thiel struck a cord is that in my industry, the highest earners tend to be in the largest markets. In a previous job I worked at a professional services firm, and had information on exactly how much each of our 200+ professionals made. For doing the same job, those in New York, Chicago, LA and SF made three to four times that of professionals in mid-tier MSA’s like Nashville, Kansas City, Pittsburgh and the like. The salary potential was largely tied to the population of the home market, and I was wondering if others saw the same trend in different industries.