This is a bad argument, because there are many other remote employers. I do not live in a low CoL area because I'm from here and never left, nor did I move her

This is a bad argument, because there are many other remote employers. I do not live in a low CoL area because I'm from here and never left, nor did I move here to save money. I moved here because I was able to keep a high paying career, and live somewhere I wanted to live. Gitlab is flat-out non-competitive.