Only if money is the only thing you're optimizing for, which isn't necessarily the case for everyone.

I once went for a job because of the money alone - it was the worst experience of my life and made me realize that money is not worth optimizing for beyond a certain point of comfort.

Sure, but you have to look at total costs, span over lifetime. How long will it take you to pay for that house you probably live in? How much time do you waste commuting? How draining is your job? How much do you spent when going out on some show, restaurant etc? How close to true nature are you?

I've followed money in my job decisions in the past and it has worked out OK for me so far, but of course I have no clue how my life would look like with other choices. But living in cramped place like SF for double the salary (thats max) and double the costs... no thank you.