[atticmanatee]

Here's the thing: most companies in Europe also provide private health insurance, almost double of those 15 days and more or less the same holidays (which are state defined and if not provided, must be paid at 150% to 200% the normal rate - depends between country).

This, of course, does not account for the entire gap in wages between both sides of the Atlantic, but it does weigh on it.

[RestlessMind]

Sure and the salary differential probably trumps those extra vacation days. According to levels.fyi[1], median compensation package for a software engineer in SF bay area is $237,000. That is a very big number even accounting for health insurance premiums, California taxes and the cost of living here. Can you please share a few European locations which offer a better deal than this? AFAIK: London has shitty salaries and slightly lower CoL than SF, Paris / Berlin / Barcelona have even shittier salaries with much lower CoL but higher taxes, Zurich has comparable salaries and lower taxes but as much or higher CoL.

[1] https://www.levels.fyi/Salaries/Software-Engineer/San-Franci...

[ginko]

What's the point of all that money when you don't get any time to spend it?

edit: I know this sounds flippant and like sour grapes, but I'm actually in the process of looking for a new job. Many of the best fitting job offers for my qualification are in the States, but the lack of vacation days, long work hours, etc. are a MAJOR deal breaker for me. With 15 vacation days I could see my family back home once per year during the Christmas holidays and maybe have 1.5 weeks for some short trip somewhere during the year. That's it.

[exceptione]

Why don't you negotiate those extra days? If the offer is good enough you may even agree to take extra days off as unpaid leave.

[exceptione]

> most companies in Europe also provide private health insurance,

Really? What countries do? I haven't come across that in western Europe so far.