[dijit]

The thing with US salaries is that they're only higher in small circumstances, often what you'll find is someone is earning 100k USD and has an offer for 35-40k GBP will end up living a similar quality life. It sounds like it would be but that's not actually a pay cut. It comes from the fact that a lot of taxes are already given to the UK Govt, along with some strong protections for things like: private pensions, which doesn't happen in the US.

If you are very clever with applying taxes, and you don't pay into a private pension then you might be better off- but it's a good thought exercise to apply the costs of living differences and then work out what level of flexible income you have left, and then what buying power you have with that money.

The quality of life is generally comparable for jobs which technically pay 2x a UK salary in the USA.

[village-idiot]

Also depends on your health. The massive difference in health care systems between those countries will have a big impact on your CoL.

[volkl48]

Not so much at the high end (dev/engineer), though. Those $150k US salaries are also going to include generous health plans with little cost to the employee at most employers.

[ericd]

Having long term health problems is highly correlated with not being able to work, though, and losing insurance coverage. This is one of the things that surprises many people who think they're well covered with insurance, and then become ill, and it's one of the most insane things about our system of bundling work and health insurance.

[village-idiot]

Nobody pays attention to that disability insurance until they’re disabled.

[sheepmullet]

> earning 100k USD and has an offer for 35-40k GBP will end up living a similar quality life.

That doesn’t sound right - $100k USD for a good software engineer is about right for second tier US cities where rent, taxes, and food are lower than in England.

[dijit]

Taxes really don’t vary much by city in the UK but rent can be considerably lower. London has the highest house prices but is not on par with NYC or SF; both of which being _considerably_ higher.

[mrep]

Rent is also much lower for the people making 100k salaries sheepmullet mentioned. In NYC, SF, or Seattle, pay will be a lot higher. New grad offers alone are 150k/year these days in big tech.