[shankr]

> For example by not needing a car, ever.

Ah yes no cars were ever seen on Dutch street.

> The cost of living may balance that out

They don't. Compare local purchasing power of any big European city with any American city. 9 out of 10 times, people in American cities would have higher purchasing power.

Even Alabama and Mississippi have higher tech average wages than countries like Germany and Netherlands. If you move out of central/western Europe, things only get worse.

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/us-states-top-tech-salaries...

Alabama ~$86,720/year

Mississippi ~$71,720/year

Germany ~46K Euros/year (googled)

Netherlands ~59K Euros/year (googled)

This doesn't even talk about how much higher taxes in these countries are. You will be paying almost ~40% (tax and social security) for these salaries in Germany and Netherlands.

[lm28469]

> They don't. Compare local purchasing power of any big European city with any American city. 9 out of 10 times, people in American cities would have higher purchasing power.

Doubt, especially once you factor things like paid vacations, paid parental leave, healthcare, etc.

The big difference is when you are an healthy young techbro, after that it equalize quite rapidly on average. Of course there are outliers but for the average software developer I'd say you're much better of in a European capital than in Alabama

Lifestyles are also completely different and can't be priced in

[RestlessMind]

> Doubt, especially once you factor things like paid vacations, paid parental leave, healthcare, etc.

Your doubt is misplaced. Have been working in the valley for 15-20 years now. Between my partner and myself, we have seen close to ~10 companies. At almost all of those except for a tiny startup, we saw: good health insurance (with out-of-pocket maximums to cap your spend), 3-5 weeks of paid vacations per hear, 3-4 months of paid parental leave (for both parents), etc.

I know that the bottom quintile of the American society doesn't have it great. But if you have a tech job offer from a decent Silicon valley company (not tiny bootstrapped startups), the only thing you have to worry about would be your visa. Another tricky area would be housing and I say tricky only because personal preferences vary a lot there and your options also differ based on your family situation - partner working? kids? schools? like cars? hate cars?

[shankr]

> Another tricky area would be housing

It's even worse in big European cities. Lack of housing is a big issue. This means you have to move outside of the city and boom your life is car dependent now. You can try throwing money at it but at the end paying 2K for rent when you earn 3K(after taxes) isn't something you would be happy about.

[lm28469]

> It's even worse in big European cities. Lack of housing is a big issue. This means you have to move outside of the city and boom your life is car dependent now.

None of my friends own a car, we all live in big European cities.

We all pay less than ~25% of our income for housing.

[imtringued]

He said Alabama not the richest location in the entire country.

[shankr]

You can compare cost of living on numbeo. We are talking about tech workers here. Most of the tech employers offer quite generous benefit in USA including healthcare, generous parental leaves and vacations. Also 401K is so common among tech workers in US. Those kind of retirement scheme aren't very common in Europe. You are almost always dependent on the public pension which is generally quite low.

Almost everyone I have heard from who moved to US confirmed their bank balance got fatter. This is also true about people moving to Switzerland. Even with high costs in Switzerland, you make extra money and pay less taxes.

[lm28469]

Everything else gets more expensive though, real estate, going out, eating out, you need a car for everything, &c.

You gain some and lose some, personally I would never go back to the US even if I got a 3x salary increase. Having lived in both the lifestyle difference is a deal breaker for me. And Im not talking about buttfuck nowhere USA, I'm talking about NYC, SF and Mountain View

[ThePowerOfFuet]

Healthcare in EU: ~€0

Healthcare in US: LOL

[golergka]

Do you have to wait for half a year to get a specialist appointment and 2 years to get a surgery in US?

[ThePowerOfFuet]

The wait is irrelevant if you can't afford it (or will destroy your retirement).

But, no, I had a non-urgent MRI within a couple weeks and I paid €0.