I’ve looked at some California ranges. They tend to be well below what levels.fyi claims these companies pay (I’m thinking Netflix, Microsoft, Google).

I’m assuming they lowball the range in the ad so if they get a candidate that doesn’t fit the original criteria they were thinking of but they still want to onboard, they can pay less. If they get a candidate that they really like, maybe they’ll pay more? I know we’re supposed to be all doom and gloom here, but there’s plenty of folks making ludicrous salaries in tech.