This is a very sensible reply. I live in flyover land and I don't want to move for a FAANG job. But I'm not going to take something for $90k: the amount I can contribute to my 401k is the same in SF or flyover land and the amount I have to pay for my kid to go to fancy college someday is the same whether I earned my money here or there.

It is apparently tough to find "quality talent" say some here; I did get a job offer with a nice compensation package in just two weeks when I recently started applying places and the word I heard was that it was competitive on employer's side.