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by HarHarVeryFunny 619 days ago
Just looking at salaries and taxes makes for a very distorted view of wealth and affordable lifestyle in the US vs elsewhere. Even if you take into account ALL the major variables such as college costs/loans, housing prices, real estate taxes, cost of healthcare, retirement, etc, it is very difficult to compare.

You can better see the reality by looking at actual examples of families with massively different incomes living in the US vs elsewhere. It takes WAY higher salary (5x?) in the US to enjoy the same lifestyle as someone in the UK, for example.
1 comments
CalRobert 619 days ago
..... really? I'd take $200k in the US over 40k GBP any day of the week. And in the US I'd have bug screens in my windows. And air conditioning. And food I can taste.
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HarHarVeryFunny 619 days ago
Depends where in the US of course. $200K isn't going to go very far if you have to pay $1M for a house, 20K for r/e taxes, etc... One or two kids in college and you are f'd.

I don't know exact salary figure, but my sisters family in UK have medium income (1.5 jobs) new BMW, two kids in college, foreign vacations every year, kids got latest Apple phones/watch/laptop growing up ... A bit like 1950's America living the dream on a single income with foreign holidays and iPhones added.

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arandomusername 619 days ago
if you live in a major city in Europe you are going to also be paying $1M for a decent family sized house.
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CalRobert 619 days ago
When did they buy their house (or flat)?
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HarHarVeryFunny 619 days ago
House bought a while back before prices shot up, so maybe mortgage paid off ... I don't know. OTOH college costs alone make the US ruinously expensive.. $200K/kid perhaps... That's the point really - you need to look at full financial picture in the US - especially costs. Looking at income tells you nothing.
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CalRobert 619 days ago
My alma mater is coming in around $16,000 a year or so for tuition, books, and fees - https://www.calpoly.edu/undergraduate-costs-attendance-2024-... . It's generally considered a not-terrible school. $200k is quite rare.
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dukeyukey 619 days ago
I'd also take $200k in the US over £40k in the UK, but let's not overdo things: Here in London I have bug screens, air con, and basically any food you could think of (and quite a lot I've never heard of).

It's seriously not difficult.

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rad_gruchalski 618 days ago
> And food I can taste.

Where do you live?

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