Bay Area SWE salaries are bimodal. Negotiating a high salary that's part of the lower peak (which I'm currently part of) is easy. Doing so for a salary that's p

Bay Area SWE salaries are bimodal. Negotiating a high salary that's part of the lower peak (which I'm currently part of) is easy. Doing so for a salary that's part of the second peak is not. If Facebook or Apple or whoever are still willing to give you 400k+ TC outside of the Bay Area, Seattle, NYC, or Los Angeles, it's because you're truly exceptional. Most people who get around that much in compensation working for those companies in the Bay Area will have to take a reduction in pay if they go to another office in a major city, and an even bigger cut if they go full remote. I am expecting Bay Area SWE incomes to fall in the next few years, as housing & rent prices fall. But I could be wrong, and they'll continue going up despite cost of living going down. We'll see!