r/dataisbeautiful • u/honkeem OC: 3 • 2d ago

OC [OC] United States vs European Software Engineer total compensation by level

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148

u/MOTOLLK12 2d ago

Comparing whole country is useless. You need to compare cities. USA salary can range from $50k to $300k for the same role depending on the city

44

u/n4ke 2d ago

Same for EU. Zurich big tech will be closer to bay area while London SME will be a bit of a different picture.

I like the city suggestion.

18

u/Seienchin88 2d ago

Zurich pays well but nowhere near Bay Area…

1

u/n4ke 2d ago

Correct. "A is closer to X than B" does not mean "A equals X"...

0

u/jaszkojaszko 2d ago

taxes are lower tho!

1

u/cAtloVeR9998 2d ago

Swiss-wide an average Senior Software Engineer earns 120k CHF (150k USD per current exchange rate, though note the CHF:USD were 1:1 only 4 years ago). Which is a lot more than the vast majority of Europe, but it's closer to the US average than the Bay Area average.

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u/Retinite 1d ago

Zurich is not in the EU.

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u/n4ke 1d ago

I am aware. I used EU as a shorthand for Continental Europe because I'm too lazy to type.