I can only speak for Hungary, it should be pretty similar, figures per month gross, net is ~2/3 of that, rough estimates as follows

minimum wage $300 average wage $900 (official statistics for 2016 Q1) fresh graduate developer $1000 3-5 years of experience $2000-$3000

Can't speak for top engineers, but it would be surprising if more than a couple earns over $6000, it flats out pretty fast.

Wait, is that per month? What's cost of living in an area with plenty of decent, IT people?

Also from Hungary, Budapest. Yes, those are monthly numbers. At BP you can rent a nice flat of 60-80 square meters for 420-500$. A beer is 2-3$ and on average you need 3-500$ to spend on casual things. It depends heavily on your lifestyle obviously, but I find it hard to spend a lot.

This is quite accurate: http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?coun...

That site is great! I love the detailed breakdown. I'm envious of what fresh food cost you. Strange enough, the beer and rent are comparable to my area. Utilities cost significantly more there than here. Our Internet costs a bit more but I get 50Mbps down. Clothing and apparel is similarly expensive.

It's obvious. Take Bay Area average divide by 4 ;)