Negotiating salaries vs. high living costs

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Is it generally permissible or encouraged to ask for a salary for which one can easily afford a house in a city with higher costs of living?

Or would I be making the same amount of money on the West Coast or the Northeast that I would make in Houston?

Example: Home ownership in Houston requires a $65,000/year salary, but requires a 6-figure income on much of the West Coast ($112K in Seattle, $150K in San Jose, and over $200K in San Francisco).

Should I assume that a $65,000/year job in Houston will automatically pay the aforementioned salaries in the other cities listed?

Look up salary reports on Glassdoor or Comparably for your area. Generally if you get hired in a specific area you get a salary commensurate with that location. Remote hire is a bit trickier to negotiate, but you can usually tell what the range is for a fair salary quote by doing research on one of those two sites.

Affording a house, I should note, is a bit more problematic in salary negotiations than affording general cost of living. I'd suggest basing your suggested salary on cost of living for your region since there are a lot more things factored into that (food, utilities, whatever). Best Places is a good site for figuring that out.