[41209]

Always pre tax.

Everything depends on the person. For example the same 2 people can make exactly the same, but live in 2 different states.

And with state income tax is varying from 10% all the way down to 0%, this choice of locale can make a big difference

[Amezarak]

It's not just state income tax making a big difference, it's also health insurance! The employee contribution towards health insurance premiums has IME ranged from $0 to $10k.

So even in the same state, two different employers paying the same gross salary could mean very different net salaries. Unfortunately, it's also a big pain in my experience to get companies to disclose this information before hiring.

[41209]

Even so-called good health insurance can often have massive gaps. I'm exceptionally fortunate in that I make enough money to just pay out of pocket, if I was poor or even just working class I wouldn't be able to say drop $100 or so on an Uber ride to and out of the way doctor. I'd be skipping medicine when I can't make my co-pays, which for my extremely treatable conditions would make things much much worse.

If I had one wish it would be to decouple healthcare from employment. No one should have a nightmare scenario where they get fired on Wednesday and next week can't afford their wife's heart medicine.