Emerson Staff Embedded Systems Engineer interview questions

HR phone screen followed by an hour long panel interview with a couple of engineers and engineering manager. Everyone looked absolutely miserable, very low energy "let's get this over with" sort of deal. Went over resume contents, desire to work at Emerson, and some embedded systems trivia (RTOS, C programming). Offer came in at mid 90s for a staff (!!) level position in a county where the median cost of a home is over $1mm. No wiggle room, HR rep suggested that mid 90s was a "fair market" offer. Bonkers stuff, I don't know how people can support themselves on such mediocre pay in one of the most expensive areas in the USA. Declined due to low salary.