Curious question: does that also mean you get US salaries between $100K - $120K?
Any company that tries to play games with CoL is a red flag, to be honest.
It basically mean they can't attract the best everywhere (since you know top performers are already working for SF level comp for remote companies) so good luck competing.
Whereas if I am working for $100k then that compensates if I'm in a different timezone and perhaps not up to the skill level of a SF local.
I don't think time zone has anything to do. Hell, even local devs have a reputation of having biological clocks all over the place. Skills definitively matters however.
I've been to a few Asian nations previously and was extremely impressed how well one could eat on such a small amount of money. I had never seriously considered staying long-term, due to complications you may be familiar with, but I would imagine you can live pretty well with that kind of pay.
Quality of goods, services, and properties are measurably lower and you need to spend more to keep the life style you want. There are things that we get in the USA insanely cheaply, but over there its really expensive. Items like Motrin, cars, electronics, and good mattresses are difficult to find or measurably more expensive.
Just to throw a few examples, there are no Apple stores in Vietnam and the Apple products sold in official apple stores in Thailand or Singapore are measurably more expensive due to import taxes and higher prices.
The home construction was low quality and always had pests and mold. Even the new apartments were rushed together and often never completed.
I loved my time there and look forward to returning, but you have to compromise in both career development and life style.
If HQ salary > local salary, the government just gets more taxes.