Wading boots, as far as they've come over the years, are not hiking boots. Even if you pony up hundreds of dollars for some of the finest models on the market, you're still getting a dumbed down version of a hiking boot. They're a compromise created by the dual requirements of needing a wading boot to do the things a good hiking boot does, but also be suitable for sticking neoprene wader booties into and being submerged under water most of the time.
Quality hiking boots do many things: they feature good latitudinal and longitudinal stability, provide traction on varying terrain, offer good arch support, fit comfortably and so on. All of these aspects combine to allow the wearer to safely hike long hours, over long distances, in relative comfort. Quality wading boots strive to do all of these things as well, but the aforementioned requirement of also allowing the wearer to jam a foot wrapped in a bulky, neoprene sack comes along and essentially ruins the effort.
I don't design boots for a living, nor do I claim to really know anything about it, but the equation seems relatively simple: if a boot needs to fit a wadered foot, aspects of that boots design that make it fit well -- like a properly-sized toe box, well-sculpted mid-sole, etc -- go out the window. Wader booties are bulky and vary widely in size and density. A boot that fits a wadered foot doesn't fit the foot at all, it fits a swollen, disfigured version of a foot.