My impression when I was at MS was that they hire you at a competitive market salary, and their HR claims to do surveys and keep your yearly increases in line with market rates, however it seemed pretty easy for increases to not keep pace with market rate increases, in part because the market rate has increased pretty steadily lately.
I don't think they're the only ones with this issue. Job hoppers can get bigger raises than people staying and climbing the ladder "the old fashioned way".
I'm not sure I agree with you, but it can vary with the time period being considered and for me it's been a long time.
Also worth noting that while many in Seattle complain about housing costs, cost of living is much lower than in the bay area. That was definitely part of my calculus for accepting an MS offer years ago.
The important metric is what percentile of the market band each company targets. The word on the street (blind) is that MS pays median to 60th, while G/FB pay at 90th percentile. Granted with how MS stock has performed from 2016 and onward, actual compensation has been pretty good, depending on when someone joins.
I don't think they're the only ones with this issue. Job hoppers can get bigger raises than people staying and climbing the ladder "the old fashioned way".