[nfm]

It shouldn't be a question of cost of living. Companies pay significantly more (or less) in local markets because of supply and demand in those local markets.

Historically those markets have been localised due to the fact that few companies employed full time remote team members, and relocating countries is intentionally made difficult and expensive.

If we see a sustained transition where a significant percentage of companies (even in just particular industries) support full time remote work, we should expect to see supply and demand for talent in that market to become less localised (time zones are still a thing, and full time remote is different to full time remote _and_ distributed).

If that plays out, you'd expect locations with historically lower compensation to get a bump (regardless of cost of living), and locations with historical higher compensation to get a reduction (again, regardless of cost of living).

Companies don't care what your expenses are per se. The valley is an intensely competitive hiring market which forces up compensation, which in turn forces up cost of living - housing supply is very finite and many people living there have lots of disposable income.