[jariel]

"developers not because of differences in cost of living."

No, the primary driver of those differences is cost of living.

Vancouver is not actually a 'high cost of living' place - it's just the real estate.

It's supply and demand as well and since most people work 'local' and Van doesn't have huge and powerful software companies HQ'd there, pay will be less.

But cost of living is a primary factor.

The 'my wife is pregnant' thing isn't a fair comparison because it's an individual artifact, not general for a location.

The fact maybe a spouse is pregnant will 100% affect pay because it will affect the demand curve i.e. change the nature of someone's willingness to work at what salary.