The average article/comment on HN is extremely confused about how compensation works. This is a huge problem because if you don't reason about comp well, you're guaranteed to make suboptimal moves for yourself.
In the example - does the author also expect to pay SF-level rent in Tulsa since "the value of housing to me hasn't changed?" Nope, because of the scarcity dynamic: if you HAVE to be in SF, you are forced to pay SF rent. If you can be anywhere, you can follow inexpensive supply.
If you understand that, you can understand the employer side. If I HAVE to have a SF programmer, I HAVE to pay them SF level rates. If I can have a programmer anywhere in the US, I can follow the supply. So I pay a Tulsa programmer a Tulsa salary. The fact that he once lived in SF is irrelevant to the equation.
I totally get why you don't want to hear that but that's how it is. It doesn't make sense to pay you more just because you were once in a pricier locale any more than you will pay more for rent just because you once did. I am making this clear because I find that it's important to understand reality you're operating in.
If you are with me so far on this argument, you can follow it to the natural conclusion of how you can make big bucks: don't be generic. If your biggest salary driver is your proximity to the office, it was always a matter of time. Instead, work on developing combinations of knowledge/skills/experience/network/etc that are valuable and unique.
That's always been my strategy and while I worry about many things in life, I don't worry about a Tulsa version of me driving my salary down (even if the version of me in Tulsa is me...)