I'm in Phoenix, which has a lot of developer work, though most of it is fairly boring line of business stuff. Compared to say San Francisco, which has a little more developer work, but the pay is the same or not enough more for most positions I've looked at and the cost of living is a lot more. There are other trade offs as well that favor SF over Phx, for example Phx is hot 3 months a year, and hotter than hell another 4.
There's a few more rural communities in southwest Oregon I'd like to live in, but there's not really any tech/dev work near what I'd need to make there. Being a software developer outside the top 10-15 major metro areas in the U.S. is a lot harder, and the pay is significantly less.
I'd honestly suggest the guy consider relocating... it's rough for everyone, but Houston, Austin, Phoenix and a few other spots have a pretty nice income to cost of living ratio, and plenty of developer work.
