But the jobs outside of Silicon Valley will generally pay less too (unless you happen to be in another tech hub, but expect the cost of living to be greater there too).
Jokes aside, I think your details are a little biased. Plenty of European tech hubs pay competitive salaries. And I know many Americans view tax as a net loss but Europeans do actually get a bunch of services for free because of taxes. Stuff Americans have to worry about on top of their daily daily lives.
It’s not really possible to compare two counties as a like for like in the way yourself and the GP were attempting to. And my point wasn’t to say Europe is better or worse than America. Just that plenty of people in European tech hubs have a very decent standard of living too. You don’t have to work in America to earn a decent wage.
Which is the point that I’m making. There is a general correlation* between wages and cost of living.
* please note that I’m making a generalisation about a correlation and not saying that the relationship is precisely even across all geographic locations nor domains within IT.