[wooger]

There are reasons to want to live in a high COL area that attract people to live there regardless of job prospects alone. If you want to hire young smart people who're into culture and nightlife and not having to drive everywhere, the best will be in expensive cities.

[lunarhustler]

There are places in e.g. Europe where a young smart person can live like a king on their American tech salary, while still putting off most of it into savings... I assure you the culture and nightlife aren't bad there either.