Yeah, companies that want remote employees really need to drop the COL thing and pay everyone similar rates. At an old job, I was getting $120k doing remote work in a high COL area, and we were looking to hire another team member. Did a bunch of interviews, found someone who was a perfect candidate, and was more qualified than all of us currently on the team. The project manager wouldn't hire him because he lives in Detroit and wanted $125k, and they said that someone living in Detroit doesn't need that much money.