In which city sw eng tc in the higher NYC or Boston? Plus in which one it is easier the get a sw eng job?
Really depends on the company. Finance has a leg up in NYC comp wise - SRE roles can be a way to get in without the quant/math expectations. My experience with startup offers ranging from "senior" to "staff" was that nyc pays a bit higher, but not enough for COL difference for me personally. Example offers from the past couple years for Boston: $155-195 cash (bonus, base). Nyc: $175-200 cash. There are definitely more options in NY, though
I've worked in both and they were roughly the same, Amazon had a larger presence in Boston and Google has a larger presence in NYC, however non FAANG jobs over 200k are hard to find in both locations. In NYC, if you can get into a quant hedge fund this can change but it's really a different skill set from SE.
And what about not FAANG? To get a tc of 140-180 for sw eng with 6 yoe where would you say be a better location?
I got that range as a new grad in nyc. I ended up taking 140 in Boston at Amazon.