What you're decribing reminds me of something Bob Metcalfe wrote years ago (but I'm afraid I don't care enough to find the original), that is: people obsessing over getting their taxes lowered are dummies, because companies will pay positions to a particular level in the social context of their employees. If a job - such a software developer - is supposed by employees to be upper middle class, that's what a company will pay in California, or India, or Germany, or whereever. Tax rates, housing costs, what have you, will be factored into that. Hence, within the US, we immediately see companies expecting to pay remote, outside-SF employees less.
In a similar vein, you're describing a lower headline salary buying a comparable standard of living because you aren't paying a mortage-equivalent sum for healthcare and education.
In a similar vein, you're describing a lower headline salary buying a comparable standard of living because you aren't paying a mortage-equivalent sum for healthcare and education.