Linksys used to be way cheaper. Although US brand but it was stated by two Taiwanese immigrants.

Once Cisco took over the company, the price became Cisco-like already. Later bought over by Belkin, another US company, but them Belkin is now owned by Foxconn. Looks like Linksys is going back to Taiwan

For Netgear as far as I know it was never cheap from the very beginning. The price is always between Cisco and China. Now more well known, the price become closer to the top brand.