Sounds like it’s time to cancel the H1B visa.
In theory, no matter what the job market, companies will have the need for talent unavailable locally (of course the H1B is abused, but that's the stated purpose)
If you're implying that eliminating H1Bs would shoot wages upward, I don't believe that would happen.
If the local workforce doesn't feel like they can get ahead... they will grow disgruntled. Targeting Visa and other immigration programs is something that they perceive they can control more so than changing employer attitudes. The same pattern can be observed in Canada.
If I have to spend ~3500 per month to own a home within an hour of downtown. Then I need a take-home pay of 168k/year which is roughly 268k/year pre-tax. The number of positions which actually pay 268k/year is already small.
You need $124k/yr of after-tax money for food, transportation, and everything else?!
In a city where a condo costs 3500/month.. It's quite likely that you'll need 124k for everything else. A basic "fast" lunch in downtown Boston runs ~20 dollars these days (5000/yr), parking alone can burn ~10k/yr. If you opt to avoid cars for public transit then you need to add 2-4k to the mortgage payment.
As everyone else is facing the same housing math, prices rise. There is some lag to pricing as individuals avoid paying market rate for housing by buying 10+ years ago or locking in lower interest rates.
$124k is $12.4k/month in non-rent/mortgage costs.
The costs you describe come nowhere close to $124k. You've described maybe $10-14k in other costs, a large portion of which are discretionary luxuries. $100/week in eating out for lunch? That's a luxury. The alternative is to do what most people do: bring a lunch from home. Sandwiches and pasta are cheap: $100 of pasta will feed a person for months.
Somehow, non-techies manage to make things work on way less than $168k/year.
This is where you went wrong. 30% rule is pre-tax (gross income): https://www.chase.com/personal/banking/education/budgeting-s... https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/10/always-use-the-30-30-3-rule-...