> is it ethical to pay a person less based purely on where they live?
It's not just rent/mortgage price differences, there are also different laws regarding taxation, healthcare and retirement.
On the other hand you can't offer someone in the Bay Area a Eastern Europe level salary. Nobody would come, but you can offer a slightly higher than average salary in E.E. and they would definitely come. It's just that a global company needs to hire in both regions to be competitive.
It's not just rent/mortgage price differences, there are also different laws regarding taxation, healthcare and retirement.
On the other hand you can't offer someone in the Bay Area a Eastern Europe level salary. Nobody would come, but you can offer a slightly higher than average salary in E.E. and they would definitely come. It's just that a global company needs to hire in both regions to be competitive.