[mbreese]

That’s a pretty big difference, but it would also be interesting to know where these positions are located. The cost of living differences between SV and outside of the Bay Area is pretty substantial, making these absolute number comparisons a bit harder to interpret.

[sndean]

Quickly putting Apple's (assuming Bay Area) $161K into a cost of living calculator says that's equivalent to $82K in Cincinnati, OH. (You'd need to make $82K in Cincinnati to maintain your standard of living.)

So yeah, I'd say that adding locations is required. I'm not sure where the majority of the IBM software engineer jobs are?

[ganeshkrishnan]

IBM is all over the US (much much more locations than others mentioned here) and it's also split into two: product and consulting. Consulting get paid less and bring down the average but people choose it for location and project variety

[freehunter]

Yeah, a significant chunk of IBM's workforce works remotely. So they don't have to pay cost of living for Seattle or SF. Much of their American workforce that does report to an office is in much lower COL areas like North Carolina or upstate New York.