Comment by freehunter

They're inflated due to the extremely high cost of living in the areas where these jobs are common: Austin, San Francisco, Seattle, Vancouver. If someone at Google in SF is making $250k, their peer in Ann Arbor, MI (a small city with a Google office) could have the same purchasing power with maybe $80k. If the companies weren't located in SF, the salaries could be a lot lower for the same work, and the employees wouldn't really be making any less even with a lower salary.