[MuffinFlavored]

I am in South Florida (somewhere in between Miami + Fort Lauderdale cost of living)

levels.fyi shows people making $300k in Austin, TX (which as far as I know, is not a high cost of living area)

What are some areas that are comparable to South Florida that are listed on levels.fyi?

[powvans]

Google has an engineering office in Austin. Could be someone who took their Bay Area salary with them. Same with Pittsburg. Uber has a presence there and SFBA transplants take their SFBA salaries with them when they move.

[MuffinFlavored]

How is that allowed?...

[jldugger]

It's usually not, but there's a certain logic to it: they valued your work high enough to pay you in SV, why would the same work be less valuable just because you moved offices?

[MuffinFlavored]

because the cost of living is different? lol

[sidlls]

The cost of living has nothing to do with the value of the work. It impacts supply and demand of labor, though.

[PenguinCoder]

Totally agreed. I keep trying to explain this to companies as an interviewee, but it does not go well. Even in my current job, doing the same thing/title/exp/degree as others on the team, I am paid less; because I work remotely. Yet they do not expect less of me than my coworkers, but they pay me less due to geographical region.

[scalesolved]

Brb while I move to Vatican city, I look forward to my salary going up significantly.

[jldugger]

Austin is not SV, but rents there have jumped in the last decade. Try pricing out a 2br apt, near one of the major tech offices. First place I clicked on was $2,300 a month! Average is closer to $1,500. This is unusual for Texas =)

[pm90]

300k is definitely highly unusual for Austin. With that salary you can literally live like a King. Buy a house in the city AND one on Lake Travis for the weekends.