What are you referring to here? How much money buys you? Aka: costs of living?
How much you make, converting EUR to USD?
What industry? IT?
I worked in a leadership position at a multi-national in Berlin for almost five years. I know the salaries the engineers had in CA & Chicago vs Germany. US was maybe 20% more max. In terms of what it buys you ... not so much. See below.
Cost of living in Munich (one of Germany's most expensive cities) vs. SF.[1] And then Berlin (one of Germany's cheapest cities) vs. SF.[2]
[1] https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?cou...
[2] https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?cou...
This comes from a person with EU citizenship who has shopped jobs/interviewed in multiple major cities in Europe; including Munich, Berlin, Amsterdam, London, Dublin and Prague.
It's not insignificant. We're talking 150-220k USD/yr in LA vs 75-95k EUR/yr in Amsterdam (as an example, since it paid the greatest during my search) for a similar seniority role. That's before accounting for nominal tax differences (~37% LA vs ~38-42% AMS; which is significant at that delta).
When I reviewed housing, Amsterdam wasn't significantly cheaper than LA, but it varied wildly based on where you wanted to live in both cities. LA apartments: 1200-4000USD, AMS Apartments: 930-3500EUR. The major plus in AMS being that you could live further from City Center and still reliably account for public transit. There's medical: free in AMS, $38/mo where I opted to work in LA. There's vacation time: 20-24days in AMS, flextime at my company. Etc.
I mean, there are more comparisons to be made; but those were the prime metrics I was interested in.
Wait what?! What kind of apartments are we talking about here?
> $38/mo where I opted to work in LA
What does the medical insurance cover?
How much did your car & car insurance cost in LA and did you need one in Amsterdam (probably not)?
All of them, that was the range from the cheapest to the priciest. Idk why that seems unbelievable, I literally just looked at apartments in AMS now and the range appears the same.
> What does the medical insurance cover?
It’s full medical coverage via a PPO plan. $40 copay, $250 deductible, $1500 max out-of-pocket per year.
> How much did your car & car insurance cost in LA and did you need one in Amsterdam (probably not)?
I already owned a car, and would have sold it if I moved. Insurance is paid semi-annually but isn’t a major expense. Additionally, I included public transit as a benefit for Amsterdam in my original post, so I’m not sure what your point is.
It really seems like you’re grasping at straws to justify the difference. The reasoning is obvious: the tech industry is massive, highly competitive and California is currently the global leader in that industry.
"Cost of living in Munich (one of Germany's most expensive cities) vs. SF.[1] And then Berlin (one of Germany's cheapest cities) vs. SF.[2]" I think these numbers are outdated. Especially Berlins rental and real estate costs are catching up quickly.
That’s not to say it isn’t sensible social policy. It is less disruptive to people who have lived there for a long time. But if you move for work, you will have to either pay a lot more than you would have in 2011, or get lucky.
You can forget it when you are young, healthy and single.
Put a wife and couple of kids into the equation, a sickness here and there plus a small risk to become unemployed and everything changes.
Also, the cost means that it is something you can only afford while you are still working.
So if you do get hurt and can't work or get fired you lose that privilege.
That is also a cost of opportunity that you lose by living in the US and that is not factored into the price of the insurance directly.
There's really not much different in what's available, only who's responsible for it. In America, you earn and keep more and it's up to you to allocate properly (or not). In other countries, the government does it all for you to ensure there's a base level of support for everyone.
If you need to pay for a very expensive medical insurance then you can only afford it while employed which you won't be if you have health issues that prevent you from doing so or get fired.
There are plenty of choices for continued care and coverage, as long as you plan for it. That's the major difference. It requires you to actively plan for your retirement and old age. Other countries just do that for you in exchange for a heavy tax.
Healthcare is free at the vast majority of tech companies in the US.
Remember that there are people outside IT/SV!
I look frequently, because if the pay was equal (or even 3/4) I'd love to live in Europe.
Which basically the average Silicon valley wage is the wage I am making now. However that is with quite a bit of seniority, I've noticed offers from Germany are generally lower than what I make but Germany costs less. If I were starting out right now I would probably make 60% of what I make now.
My guesstimate of the difference has always been that a years pay in Denmark was equivalent to 8 months pay in the better paid parts of the U.S.
Also, they're referring to white collar tech employees. All salaried, all well above minimum wage and most definitively the highest paid (in that industry) in the world, including outside of SF/the Bay.