Junior to Mid level is pretty significant, even outside of the bay area. At a finance company, Junior to Senior for me was about $45k base salary over ~5 years, with another $20k in bonuses annually. If you can only find say a $70k job, I would think its not unlikely that you would be able to work 2 years at that, and jump for $90-110k.

As someone searching for employment in the Midwest, I feel your pain. I saw a position yesterday that wanted 15+ years of experience and paid, I kid you not, $17/hr.

Compensation in the Midwest is a joke. If my family weren’t here, I’d return to one of the coasts.

They're looking to fill the position with a foreign contractor, almost certainly. I wrote some PHP sites 20 years ago and get contacted every now and then about taking a 2 month contract for $16 an hour writing PHP in Pittsburgh, which I'm sure has its charms but is also halfway across the country from me.

The terrible smells, pretty sunset, and constant threat of petty violence in SF is offset with significant extra hiring fees.