That is right, one can chose to accept any offer that works for them for whatever reason. If you have no leverage, you may need to accept an offer just to avoid being replaced by other people.

But, I am saying, that if you accept an offer that is based on what your employer thinks is an appropriate lifestyle for you, adjusted to the cost of living in your area, and not on the value of your work, that will immediately establish what I consider is a particularly inappropriate relationship between employer and employee. Of course this happens all the time for many reasons, but what we're seeing now is employers inventing and normalizing yet another, new tactic to deploy when trying to get you to accept less compensation. It's just another trick. But what's particularly insidious about this trick is that what they're doing is openly laying claim to your lifestyle by saying that: suppose you're a senior developer, you are entitled to organic groceries, whereas a junior developer is entitled to conventional produce, regardless of where you live, that's what you deserve. But that's wholly inappropriate: your compensation should depend on what you produce, and your lifestyle should be none of their business. If I want to move to Thailand or the middle of a field in Nebraska and save money, that's none of their business. There is no "objective" lifestyle that a senior developer should be entitled to. But that's this new trick they are trying to pull, and it's nothing short of disturbing and creepy.