I have had that discussion multiple times with people. They all seem to think you absolutely need to live in a 5 bedroom 5m$ house in Palo Alto (because how else are you going to live?).

But if you rent a normal 2BR for 4000$ in the Bay area, and could potentially rent the same for 1500$ in a LCOL, that is a minimal saving compared to your income. Everything else stays mostly the same. An on top of that most companies will give you a paycut.

But for some reason people think you are going to be a king just by moving to LCOL. I think it is the opposite

Now, if you get bamboozled into buying a 5000 sqft house like the average american does, then yes, big savings in a LCOL.