[iso1631]

$200k is £146k

I've seen mid-level tech jobs in London banks for £146k which come with 34 days off including state holidays like new years day, christmas, etc

£146k for a full time contractor on 226 days a year isn't that much at all - £650 a day, which is in the "Senior developer" range [0]

With 30% tax in the US and the cost of health insurance, that would be $68,400

For a staff employee on £146k (which is quite achievable in finance), taxes would be 39.5%, or $79k in tax [1] (there's also local property tax, but that's in the ballpark £1k-3k a year depending on the size of your house). Tax could be potentially lower as a contractor if you're clever about distributing your income, but I know they've been clamping down on some avoidance schemes.

No idea what a HSA account is, I guess some form of pension plan? That tends to come off pre-tax.

[0] https://www.itjobswatch.co.uk/contracts/uk/senior%20ui%20dev...

[1] https://listentotaxman.com/146000

[slap]

The whole IT contractor bonanza at £650/day is being killed off by the government in April 2021.

Also perm developer jobs in London are at around £100k at the 90th percentile, nowhere near £160k

See https://www.itjobswatch.co.uk/jobs/london/developer.do

[iso1631]

How is it being killed off? You might have to pay a bit more tax (either before as part of employer NI, or after), but £650/day isn't an abnormally high rate.

I was looking at the following job last month which was advertised at £200k

Software Engineer needed for award winning tech focused hedge fund run by passionate computer scientists. Sells Flexible hours/work options Technologists only report to technologists Programmers treated as top commodity so ‘spoiled’ Very friendly/collaborative people Cutting-edge tech Multiple greenfield projects No red tape Beautiful offices Small team size in a growing company so able to make a significant impact Role Build and optimise new cutting-edge platforms to back-test, research & trade quantitative strategies Predict models to automatically invest, design and develop trading platforms Performance optimisation & building robust intelligent solutions to problems

And this one at £150k

My client is a specialist quantitative asset management company that takes pride in having a distinct culture and approach to working with technology. With a tech driven and relaxed feel in the heart of London. They are looking for an outstanding Low-latency Network Engineer. The successful candidate will be a key engineer in the company and will be designing, building and managing critical network infrastructure and automating all work.

Now sure, not everyone is paid those, but not everyone is paid $500k in america either. trcollinson was a on a gross of less than $200k as a contractor. Based on his hours that's $800 a day, or £586 a day, or £660 a day if you include Employer NI.

[blunte]

London is hugely expensive, so tech salaries should be higher there to attract workers.

Also, finance generally pays better than other industries (although banking in Netherlands pays typically low-average); but trading and investment companies pay above average.

[iso1631]

Median wage pre-tax in London is £736 a week, or £38k a year. It can't be that expensive if half the people live on that.

Median rent for a 2 bed in London is $1976 a month

Average rent for a 2 bed in San Francisco is $3772 a month

[0] https://www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/housing-and-land/improv...

[1] https://www.rentjungle.com/average-rent-in-san-francisco-ren...

[mciancia]

Yes, you can earn $200k in EU. But usually on very senior role/as contractor while in US you can get that kind of offer from FANG just out of university. I would assume that people who can get $200k in EU could get a ton more in US

[kingaillas]

>No idea what a HSA account is, I guess some form of pension plan?

I think the OP meant Health Savings Account, which lets you put money in pre-tax for certain medical expenditures. There is a limit and IIRC you lose what you don't spend. It's good if you have predictable costs, or you're saving to do an expensive procedure (friends have done this for lasik), etc. You pay the bill then submit a receipt to get reimbursed out of the account.

In the US these are now termed Flexible Spending Accounts, with subcategories of Health, Dependent Care, etc.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flexible_spending_account

It helps, but certainly a different attitude towards social safety nets, defense spending, etc would make a larger difference.

[jldugger]

No, FSA and HSA are similar but different. They both exist, the use-it-or-lose it variety you're talking about is called an FSA. HSAs, on the other hand, can carry over year to year, and doubles as a source of income in retirement.

The downside is you must have high deductible plan to contribute to an HSA -- the idea is that you put aside enough money to cover the high deductible just in case, but are now motivated to price comparison shop for MRIs and whatnot, since any unspent money is now yours to keep.