> "It is impossible to even to begin to justify making $75k in St. Louis if you can make $150k in San Francisco" The data suggests the divide is not nearly tha

> "It is impossible to even to begin to justify making $75k in St. Louis if you can make $150k in San Francisco" The data suggests the divide is not nearly that large for the majority of software engineers. More like $80-90k in flyover country vs $100k in Seattle or $110k in SF -- and a lot of those gains are wiped out by higher taxes. Having $20k less net income and $20k less net housing expenses each year works out about even, and you can still buy the same number of Mercedes or international trips. Sure, if you're one of those rare few at the top of the food chain who could be making $200k in St Louis or $500k in the bay area, it's hard to justify living in St Louis. But there are plenty of people in software who justify living in the middle of the country because the "lower" salary is quite competitive for them (as always, do the math for yourself) and they like the lifestyle/weather/whatever. For reference, I lived in Seattle for 10 years and Denver for 20, and I've always been around software engineers (including my wife and my father.) I know the standard of living the majority of software engineers have in both places. I also keep up with software engineers (family, former coworkers, and school friends) in other areas like NY, Chicago, Baltimore, and the bay area. My software engineer friends in "rich" cities didn't do or buy anything particularly different or more exotic than my software engineer friends in Denver.