Again; missing the point. It's up to employee, who is generally speaking a fully formed human being with the capability to know what matters to them and make decisions on that basis.

That's fine - it doesn't matter what is right for 'some people'. It just matters if it's a better situation for the person accepting a new job - whether money is part of their viewpoint or not.

But again, it's not up to anyone besides the developer accepting the offer to judge what a better situation is. It's implied it's a better situation for them because they are intelligent independent human beings with their own values, and they accepted the offer. If it wasn't a better situation for them they wouldn't accept it.

A higher salary is an indicator of a better situation, it isn’t the situation itself.

It just happens to also be one of the easiest indicators to sell to a prospective employee. A great company culture is also a “better situation” but it’s a lot less tangible from the outside.

That's one of the reasons I work where I do. My coworkers are fantastic and I don't get up in the morning hating the fact I have to go to work. Sure I could make more in the Bay (but really not all that much more), but it's hard to beat living walking distance from the office and actually enjoying your place of work.

(Satellite office of a bay area company)

Who?