[agjmills]

Whilst I dont want to defend the relatively low compensation for public-sector jobs in the UK, it is more nuanced than just salary.

In this case, it was actually a salary of £50,550 - £57,500, so total compensation of around £75k (circa $95k), as the pension scheme is in the order of 30% of your salary. Then there's the usual US vs UK medical cover and vacation allowances.

It's still a way off, but the gap is smaller than you think when you crunch all of the other benefits into a single number.

[dagw]

as the pension scheme is in the order of 30% of your salary

Honest question, as I have no idea, but don't US employers also offer pension schemes that they pay money into, on top of the listed salary?