xetifafa

I haven't used it extensively, but I've heard cryptpad is good.

Yep that's definitely true. Just comes down to what's important to you. You can fall hard and fast in the states but that's a lot less likely to happen in Germany.

The 4k extra take home is more significant if you move to a LCOL place once you have acquired your fortune, not if you stay in the States. I would argue things like FIRE or Lean-FIRE are only slightly easier to achieve in the US than in Germany because of the comparably HCOL.

Thanks for your feedback.

The goal was to compare MCOL cities. Maybe Leipzig wasn't the right one for that, but Munich is one of the most expensive cities in Germany.

Munich vs SF, Seattle or NY might be a fairer comparison.

Switzerland generally has higher pay than Munich.

Also how hard is it to get a $168k dev job in Portland vs $84k in Munich? I think $84k in Munich is significantly easier.

I don't know enough about US health insurance to make a good comparison. In Germamy co-pays for doctor visits arent a thing and co-pays for meds are capped at 5-10 EUR.

Also if I go to the hospital and get a surgery or something I don't have a deductible or percentage I have to pay out of pocket.

My understanding of US insurance is that these are almost always a reality plus potentially a monthly premium.

Not as bad as Berlin, Munich or Hamburg. I split around 1k€ (warm) for a newly remodeled/renovated 60m2 apartment in a very hip area close to the city center.

According to levels.fyi (if we assume its unbiased) a median dev income is around $82k in Germany vs $168k in the United States. Let's assume the mean is near that as I can't find any stats on median CoL. Also Let's compare two MCOL(?) hip cities: Portland OR and Leipzig.

$82k is $4.1k take home (with healthcare) as a single in Germany.

$168k is $8.8k take home as a single in Portland.

Let's say monthly expenses are $1.5k as a single in Leipzig. According to numbeo I would need $2.5k for the same standard in Portland.

So in Portland I can save $6.3k or 2.5x my expenses and in Leipzig I can save $2.6k or 1.6x my expenses.

Healthcare is included in the net pay for Leipzig, but not Portland. Employer 401k contributions and other benefits are also not considered.

Other things to consider are safety, unemployment, workers rights, tenant rights, quality of healthcare, cost of elderly care, government retirement plans, PTO, sick leave, maternity and paternity leave, cost of childcare, etc.

Really comes down to what's important to you IMO.

Yes, but my employer can fire me (in some cases) if I am sick for more than 30 days in a year.

https://www.wirtschaftsforum.de/tipps/welche-anzahl-an-krank...

Don't want to give too many details but it's in NRW close to Cologne.

If anyone is interested in an anecdote from a US American mid level dev living in Germany:

I get 30 paid vacation days, 10 ish public holidays and my employer has to pay up to 6 weeks of sick leave a year (after that the public health insurance pays).

I make around 75k€ with a 38 hour work week and my take home is roughly 3600€ net. My living expenses are less than 1k (mid sized city, no car, split rent, no kids) so I am able to invest 2-2.5x my living expenses every a month.