I have had several interviews where after I had passed all the technical screens that the company was simply unable to offer me what I was asking for after weeks of trying. I managed to find a list of what local area start-ups were paying for different roles and was shocked to find myself in the top 10% when I had taken multiple pay cuts within defense and was getting mediocre compensation compared to every Bay Area and NYC located company I had talked to.

I've talked to a number of folks with inside knowledge for a couple different regions and it's quite possible that they're simply not budgeted to pay for that role and they just can't politically negotiate that while meeting certain fiscal commitments. If I started a company right now and bootstrapped, I can't pay someone market rate at all and expect to be in business a year without taking outside funding, so that's just reality.