That it's absurd on its face to say that 160k is "nothing to live in Seattle with the cost of living". The vast majority of people live with much less. The rest of your comment was fine re: programmers have other options.

It came with the assumption that I wanted the same standard of living. But the truth applies the other way. You won't live in a neighborhood with top rated schools (they will be safe), but you can live in a nice neighborhood with a 70k household income. When I bought my first home in 2002, it was a new build and 2800 square feet for around $170K. I was making around 70K. Looking now, that same house I use to live in just sold for around the same price about a year or two ago. The neighborhood is a safe, quiet, place.

Commuting to downtown was only about a 30-35 minute drive.