Personally, if I were to choose the Midwest, it'd be Chicago.
Glassdoor has an average software engineer in Chicago making $75k. Bankrate says the equivalent income in SF would be $113k, and Glassdoor has median salary in SF as $103k.
$10k is a lot of money to be sure, and you are paying a premium for SF, but it's not always so dramatic.
Employers seem to be pretty good at adjusting salaries by geography according to cost of living. You can't really "win" unless you can convince someone to pay you a Bay Area salary to live in the Midwest. And maybe you can, but if they're smart and the market is efficient, it won't last long.
Glassdoor has an average software engineer in Chicago making $75k. Bankrate says the equivalent income in SF would be $113k, and Glassdoor has median salary in SF as $103k.
$10k is a lot of money to be sure, and you are paying a premium for SF, but it's not always so dramatic.
Employers seem to be pretty good at adjusting salaries by geography according to cost of living. You can't really "win" unless you can convince someone to pay you a Bay Area salary to live in the Midwest. And maybe you can, but if they're smart and the market is efficient, it won't last long.