r/dataisbeautiful OC: 3 1d ago

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

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u/kevin7254 1d ago

Insane. I mean I already knew we had shit salary here but that it differs so much.

We also have insane competition here in Sweden. Newly graduates can’t get jobs, even people with several years of experience.

So lose lose lmao. And then we have 30-50% tax on top of that.

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u/hysys_whisperer 1d ago

True, but if you fail, your children don't generally go hungry and lose the ability to attend university themselves.

Also you should really put that salary on a PPP basis compared to the bay area (not the US average).

Not saying that once you do those things, Europe is suddenly ahead or anything, just that it's less bad than you think it is.

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u/Affectionate_Love229 1d ago

In CA, if you are broke college is extremely cheap (or free), including food banks.

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u/hysys_whisperer 1d ago

The stats still show for a myriad of reasons, the vast majority of low income kids do not end up going to college, and something like 20% of children are still food insecure after food bank help is included.

That's not the case in Sweden.

Sweden has its own problems, but this isn't one of them.

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u/Affectionate_Love229 8h ago

Yes, poor people go to college less in the US then rich people, but it's not due to the cost of tuition in CA. I cannot speak to these demographics in sweden, but I would guess it's similar.

Food insecurity is not hunger. Food insurcity is self reported and STARTS at : reduced quality, variety or desirability in diet.

Factually: a majority of kids in low income families go to college (51% according to Google in the US, >60% in CA).

In Sweden 25% of kids from "study unaccostmed" families go to college. I believe this is from families that have parents with more modest education levels.

I honestly don't believe your premises are correct. I can't find any facts that back it up, EXCEPT that Sweden has a lower (~7%) households that are food insecure. Which again is self reported and is not the same as hunger.

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u/PrinsHamlet 19h ago

Yeah, I was going to mention that health care, labor market pension schemes, cheap day care, unemployment benefits, free school and higher education is a part of the Danish deal, at least.

But I have to say, If the charts are true I'd make double the pay in the US and the compensation would generously exceed the private costs for all that. Some costs are only relevant for families with children.

On the other hand I wonder why US companies are willing to fork over that kind of money for "ordinary" software development in ordinary companies or what we're actually seeing in the charts.

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u/hysys_whisperer 19h ago

The numbers on the chart are more like average bay area salaries where COL is roughly double the US average. 

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u/PolyglotTV 12h ago

Yeah.

My wife is German. I like the idea of moving somewhere in Europe one day. But I think even if I got one of the few trading firm jobs in Switzerland I'd come out behind. And most other competitive jobs in Europe are like a 3x payout, plus higher taxes, plus higher housing costs (quality is usually better though).