>> $170-180k a year, like an average-level senior software engineer in the US.

I hear things like this all the time, but outside of a few major centers it's just not the norm. And no companies are spending anything like $1k / month on remote work environments.

I mean, it's at best an average-level senior engineer salary, not some exorbitant L6 Googler salary.

Median salary for a software engineer in the US is ~$133k:

https://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/...

Define “senior engineer” though..