"It would kinda take the wind out of the idea if they had to tell you that none of these jobs pay more than $50k." That's around 41k€. What country are you from? These numbers are certainly way off for Frankfurt and other bigger German cities. We pay around 45k€ for a junior (!) developer and we're a pre-market startup and I know for a fact that this is a bit lower than the market standard.

Why is no one mentioning buying power as proper means to compare salaries? Also the health care stuff, rent, owning a car, retirement plans, all these things are widely different in cost and what you actually need. No one needs a car if you live in a city like Frankfurt for example. This all depends heavily on the country and region.

If you haven't thought of these things yet, you might think a bit about moving to a different country, because otherwise you'll be disappointed.