[brandonhorst]

It's all based off the CoL in county of your primary residence. Has nothing to do with the proximity to an office.

[vitus]

Not true. If it were based on cost of living, then Google would pay more for you to work from Hawaii than from Alabama. (Spoilers: it doesn't, they're both in the same salary band.)

It's slightly more true that it's based on the local cost of labor, but even more so that it's just based on the state, with carveouts for MSAs (which are defined based on county) surrounding certain offices commanding higher salaries.

You'd make just as much working remotely in Matamoras, PA as you would working out of the NYC office in Manhattan.

[hhmc]

I'm wondering what's stopping a cottage industry popping up of 'synthetic residence' in high CoL areas.

E.g. I live in a low-CoL area, but I pay you, someone living a high-CoL area, $100 to nominally be your "flatmate".

[tshaddox]

There's nothing particularly clever about that, it's just straight up textbook employee fraud.

[Spooky23]

People do that with car insurance and jobs with residency requirements.

I used to drink with a bunch of fireman who lived about 300 miles away - they had to live in the city or adjacent county. They’d have a flophouse in the hood shared by like 20 guys and crash there once in awhile when they pulled overtime as well as get mail.

Travel scams are similar too. If a company will reimburse travel if you’re 50 miles from home, people will “move” so they can bill the mileage tolls.

It works great until it doesn’t. If you want to give up your cushy Google gig for a few thousand bucks, good luck.

[CydeWeys]

Well for starters you're gonna have all applicable state and local taxes withheld from wherever you're fraudulently claiming to be living, as that is going to be where you are ACTUALLY living as far as all relevant taxation authorities are concerned.

[prepend]

I think a more non-fraud tactic would be to find the cheapest area in a high cost of living area and minmax on that dimension. Especially if it’s by county, then there are likely unfavorable areas within that county.

[hinkley]

But if there is anywhere in the county that has escaped full IT gentrification because of poor commuter access, those prices are going to explode if they haven't already. Since median house price is a huge fraction of CoL calculations (and a frequent complaint among some economists), staying in county gets you a raise, if your friends do it too.

[csa]

> those prices are going to explode if they haven't already

That ship has sailed, and it’s got a nice tail wind as well.

[danielsju6]

Not at Google. When you go remote you're paid based the same as if you were onsite at the nearest office to your residence, limits are roughly CSA (combined statistical area) in the US—not cost of living.

[jaredsohn]

Curious if companies pay differently based on county of primary residence if you commute to the office.

[iancmceachern]

Exactly. If someone who lives in say, Tracy, who has always commuted into the office, and continues to do so. Would they get their pay cut?

[cgdub]

Does that mean you would get paid less for living in Queens County instead of New York County?