Probably not that hard. However you'd probably be going down a lot in salary, the top 95th percentile for people with masters in technical subjects is around 800 000 NOK or 138 000 usd, but the average is around 550 000.

Considering a cheap apartment with 2 bedrooms costs minimum 2 000 000 nok.

A bus ticket starts at 28 nok about 5 usd.

You might also want to consider the 35 days of payed holiday that you get, the generous parenting leaves and healthcare and pension packages, as well as the higher tax :)

It's only 25 days, or 4 weeks and 1 day. The payment part is just a percentage of what you earned the previous year. So the first year I start working after college I will not get paid during my holidays.

Parenting leaves are very important since it is assumed that women should work and not stay home with the children. We also have subsidized kindergartens.

Healthcare is fair. However we have pretty much no dental and you only get subsidized medication if you need medication for more than 3 months.

Pension is ok, however it's just an economical model where you deduct peoples salaries and force them to save money.

And yes, taxes are very high:

25% VAT

High income tax

Wealth tax and also housing tax

25 days is the legal minimum. My employer gives 30 days paid vacation. Some companies also handle holiday pay slightly differently (while still complying with the law), so it's possible to get paid while you are on vacation - I did.

You have to have a lot of money before the wealth tax hits you, and it's quite low anyway (if you have enough money that the wealth tax will hit you, you can earn more in interest having the money sitting in a bank account than you will be paying).

IT workers are in demand in Norway, so if you're skilled, it's generally not too hard to get a job here. And the pay is decent - sure you might find some jobs that pay more in the States, but you're not going to starve here. My pay actually jumped by about 50% when I moved here.

Things are more expensive here, of course, but not everything is a lot more expensive - renting an apartment here is similar to prices you'd expect in New York. I've never had a problem with healthcare, but off hand I don't know any company that provides dental coverage or vision plans.

The hardest part is the language. --Everyone can speak English here, but, like anywhere, the more of the local language you speak, the easier it is.

Opera does have a few Americans working there, including at least one who moved his entire family there (even his dogs, I believe).

Yes, you'd might go down in salary, as hmottestad mentions, so there are pros and cons. People do live fine here on their salaries, so I don't think it would be a problem.