There's a real risk that a layoff will upend things and there won't be another remote job in the offing, let alone anything local. I recently had that experience and I was fortunate that I have a spouse who works and we put away a savings cushion (which we depleted) for just such an event. I also encountered a prospective employer who dickered over pay scale for remote outside their area vs remote based in one of their metropolitan areas. No thank you, best of luck, I'll commute and work for someone who doesn't discriminate based on my zip code. I also note that a well-known source code control company actually formalizes this practice and offers a calculator to see how hard they intend to screw you, which is at least up front rather than late in the hiring process.
There's a real risk that a layoff will upend things and there won't be another remote job in the offing, let alone anything local. I recently had that experience and I was fortunate that I have a spouse who works and we put away a savings cushion (which we depleted) for just such an event. I also encountered a prospective employer who dickered over pay scale for remote outside their area vs remote based in one of their metropolitan areas. No thank you, best of luck, I'll commute and work for someone who doesn't discriminate based on my zip code. I also note that a well-known source code control company actually formalizes this practice and offers a calculator to see how hard they intend to screw you, which is at least up front rather than late in the hiring process.