Somewhat related to my sibling comment, but at least in the bay area, I think the movement in FAANG stock prices may be playing a bigger role than interest rate

Somewhat related to my sibling comment, but at least in the bay area, I think the movement in FAANG stock prices may be playing a bigger role than interest rates. A good chunk of employee compensation at these companies is in RSUs, and the stocks have been on a tear these last 5 years. Very roughly If you got a grant worth $120k/yr 4 years ago, that would be worth about 2-3x when it vests. That is probably why we are seeing a lot of folks on here claim that FAANG is paying 500k to senior engineers. More likely they are paying ~$200k base, and the rest is coming from vested RSUs.