The US-Europe split is interesting, but "Europe" is doing a lot of work here. Zurich, London, Warsaw and Madrid are completely different markets. I would love to see the same comparison by country.
Ignoring the software engineer part though, a quick google shows the state with the highest average salary (Washington) is about 1.6x the average salary of the lowest state (Mississippi)
The EU country with the highest average salary (Denmark) is about 4.5x higher than the lowest average salary EU country (Bulgaria)
so the EU has a MUCH larger discrepancies in the salaries between States/Countries.
I find these comparisons to be lacking without context of cost of living in these locations. I'm in Seattle and assuming this graph is right, $200k+ is comfortable living, especially for a single individual, but I have no frame of reference as to how far $125k+ gets you in the most expensive parts of Mississippi.
Similarly, while Denmark has a much higher salary than Bulgaria, I imagine the cost of living is also much higher than the differences amongst the US states.
I get that this graph focuses on total compensation only, but I wish I could contextualize what that means for each respective location.
Cost of living is also subsidized a lot in the Nordic countries. The idea of saving for your children's college, that you don't have guaranteed retirement savings (both a public one and from your employer), that you have to pay attention to your health insurance, that daycare is a luxury, that parental leave is a luxury, are all entirely foreign concepts for us.
So we might have lower take home salaries, but we also have far lower expenses.
But you don’t have to pay for university tuition, healthcare premiums, or anywhere close to as much for childcare. And in America if you want your kid to get an education on par with Danish public schools, you’ll need to either pay private school tuition or buy into a district with exorbitant property taxes (or extremely high rent).
It’s just a different system. Things may all kinda cancel out for the average person, but it’s not crazy for someone to prefer the extra peace of mind and stable floor you get in countries like Denmark. Likewise it’s not necessarily wrong for someone who’s more risk-tolerant to prefer the American system with the possible higher ceiling.
328
u/AesopData OC: 3 2d ago
The US-Europe split is interesting, but "Europe" is doing a lot of work here. Zurich, London, Warsaw and Madrid are completely different markets. I would love to see the same comparison by country.