If you want a simple website for, say, a local business, then a service like Squarespace or Shopify probably does what you want. Programming ability may not be

If you want a simple website for, say, a local business, then a service like Squarespace or Shopify probably does what you want. Programming ability may not be necessary. If you want something much more custom than that built from scratch, then I strongly doubt that you can get it done for $1-2k competently no matter where the developer is located. To use a (somewhat poor) analogy, there’s a big difference in price between pre-built cabinets from IKEA and custom-built cabinets that exactly fit your space using your preferred materials and finishes even though both are just basic wooden boxes with doors that open. AI has not impacted developer wages yet as far as I know. Pay expectations may have fallen a bit, but that’s got more to do with layoffs caused by interest rate increases.