absolutely. Wanting to know the salary without looking at the full context is like wanting to know the run-time of a function and only looking at one of its many subroutines.

For instance, 60k in some areas of the USA means you are living like a king, have acres of land, a lake, multple cars, etc. That same amount in NYC probably makes you homeless.

An iPhone costs roughly the same no matter where you live, it’s still more fun to visit Vietnam on an SF salary then it is to visit SF on a Vietnamese salary.

And for the most part when the prices differ 9 out of 10 times it's more expensive outside the US (and sometimes significantly so).

Whenever I go to the US it's shopping time. Pretty much everything is cheaper. And many items you just can't get elsewhere (which is another aspect many ignore).

I know this is going to be controversial, but healthcare-wise high earners might be better-off in the US too. Generally it would seem to me, the more money you make the better US is in comparison.

agreed. But that's a fundamentally different concept you are describing. The point is you cannot compare $100 salary and living in A with $100 salary and living in B unless you know the values of A and B. This definitely holds for "modern" western countries where social welfare/tax systems/costs of living/healthcare have a huge impact on living standards and hence what a salary of value X means. Generally speaking you might say more money == more fun, but I don't know of any data to back up that claim once we are talking about some dollar amount above the poverty limit.

I specifically have a calculation I use to be real with myself. I subtract all taxes and expenses from my gross pay, and then divide by the number of hours I work.

Believe it or not, I'm only saving 3 dollars an hour of my pay. That's about $6300 a year because I work about 2100 hours.

If you account for commuting time and emotional/physical toll of working, I'd say it's nearly negative pay.

Different countries have different cost of living expenses. Housing+food+transportation in SE Asia is much, much cheaper than the US or Western Europe. For USD1500 a month you can live like a king in Bangkok, or a pauper in SF.

Saving money isn't just about making more money, but just as much as cutting expenses.

Some people have fixed expenses, besides cost of living and other normal expenses which depend on your location.