Comment by grepthisab

GS-15 is more than many pay, maybe not bay area or top, top companies. But I had friends there who made $160k-ish and had a hard time moving back to SF to mid-size startups because he would have had to take a pay cut (but with equity filling the gap). Plus it was pretty high impact work, and the ability to work remote on demand, so was hard to find something comparable if you're very mission driven or want a more "relaxed" lifestyle.