You can also add, among the benefits, the good network of public transport (even if some lines are overloaded).
Well, no. That's the point of having an average.
Would be good to have stats for median salary as well
Freelancing is also a good option, with daily rates ~400-700€ depending on experience, you can make a much better living than a regular employee.
The ballpark for your actual cash in hand, assuming no other costs for the company, would be whatever you charge divided by two (social security isn't actually free).
Of course, some things can be expensed, which is a huge advantage, for example a company car or motorbike, a laptop, etc). But it's not entirely free if you use them on your personal time, theoretically you have to pay income tax on some of the object's value.
So the numbers are, considering 220 working days a year (which is probably optimistic, because you have to budget some days to find and develop new leads, plus vacation, sick days, etc):
400 € / day = 88 000 / year => 44-45 000 after tax
Another thing to bear in mind is landlords and banks have a strong preference to rent / lend to people with a stable, long-term contract (CDI). As a freelancer, especially in the beginning, you'll probably encounter quite a few of them who won't want to do business with you. Plus, being a foreigner won't help.
Source: I'm doing the freelance thing.
My friend is diabetic and in poor health, he would go broke if he lived in America and not Europe.
American salaries are 2 to 3 times higher.
The cost of life is NOT twice higher.
Do the math.
Also remember we are talking about tech. Not all salaries.
You need to include benefits such as company car, extra holidays (europe starts with 20 + unlimited sick days), 13th month (get paid twice on december), food stamps (around 8€ / working day), ...
And stock options can be part of the package on both side of the ocean. You should value them similarly.
> The cost of life is NOT twice higher. Rent is around twice higher in SF, and contributes for a significant portion of your total expense. Other expenses (leisure, culture, ...) is indeed more slightly more expensive in SF but not by a factor x2.
Health care is also free for most tech workers or if not free, a blip on the radar. I think I pay $40 a month for amazing healthcare (and I'm in SoCal not in the Bay).
Yea... no.
Especially if you factor in the cost of life.
Edit: Average salary in SF for tech workers is $142k vs $56k in Paris [1].
Once adjusted for cost of living, Paris is roughly 86k$ [1].
Now, you add all the social benefits, like free health care, retirements etc. And if you have/plan on having children, you can add free education as well.
All in all it's very far from 2-3 times lower.
[1] https://hired.com/state-of-salaries-2018