&gt; Before you tell me to look for another company, I did. All of them know the market rate and all of them set their max salary to it.<p>Where are you looking for companies? This matters greatly as to whether or not they have the resources&#x2F;inclination to actually hire above average talent. No company is going to admit that they actually want employees who are &quot;meh&quot; because they don&#x27;t actually have much money to spend on development and that their projects are uninteresting and that they don&#x27;t solve hard problems, but that is sometimes the case.<p>If you look at the American midwest, it&#x27;s pretty much what you&#x27;re describing. If you look at Silicon Valley, NYC, Chicago, Austin, Boston, etc. you&#x27;ll find huge salary ranges, with compensation easily matching talent (and beyond, in some situations).