All employers always want to pay as little as possible. You get paid as much as you do because your labor in your area costs that much. Companies are competing

All employers always want to pay as little as possible. You get paid as much as you do because your labor in your area costs that much. Companies are competing for your labor, if they paid you less, you'd be way more likely to take another job elsewhere. Now suppose you could move somewhere else and didn't have to pay insane prices just to live in a shithole like San Francisco, but you'd have to take a pay cut - why wouldn't you do it? You'd earn less on paper but you'd have a better life.