YOE doesn't really have a huge impact on whether or not remote work is an option, usually that's company/team-based. Also, even though job postings say 5 YOE required or whatever, just apply anyways. Plenty of job postings ask for 5-10 YOE with languages that haven't even been a thing for that long. Just recruiters doing wild stuff. And we'd need to know more to answer the significant drop in comp. Typically comp is tied to your working location, so if you're remote but working in the NYC area, you would generally get NYC-level comp, meaning you wouldn't necessarily take a paycut

Thanks for the reply! I’ll definitely start applying to more “5+ year” listings then. If I were to move to a lower cost of living area (~90 minutes outside of Boston), how do you think that might affect my TC (presumably at a company that has remote opportunities)?