[watwut]

Not every single individual all the time, but mass of people generally moves that way. I dont mean it in derogatory "they are all shallow consumerist" way.

1.) There are too many people who dont have strong preference and thus go for salary because why not. Or follow friends. The higher salaries also go with bigger social status, often better negotiating position. There are people who do need money. And yes, there are many people who measure worth in salary too.

2.) Historically, people move that way. When programming turned out to be good job, students started to be way more interested in that. When you look at which majors students pick, they generally go for the ones that sound practical and earn money. Yes, some people go for antropology or history of art, but not nearly as many of them.

People moved to San Francisco in the first place because they followed opportunities. People moved out of Detroit because they followed opportunities.