Would you care to share which companies you know that pay equal salaries? I'm close to 200k CAD in total comp working in Vancouver but that's still around 40% less of what colleagues in the States are making.
My question for you though is, is it much less? Americans have to save way more money for retirement than Canadians. I bet your fully loaded costs are close.
I believe the last time we ran the numbers it wasn't that drastic. The mandatory retirement saving in Canada (Canada Pension Plan) is quite bad, can't really be maxed out beyond a very low benefit, and is almost criminal for your beneficiaries if you die before retirement. It is certainly than nothing, but definitely not better than taking the same money and placing it in a tax sheltered index fund.
I hear this a lot - most of the time its just people happy making >100k not realizing the Canadian dollar has dropped a lot, and just how ridiculous US salaries have become in the last 10years.