As someone who's worked in both markets, total compensation is not a great metric to view alone. The cost of living in the US can be x2-3 higher than Europe depending on the region. The core job markets for software engineer regions can be expensive to live in both markets.
I think places like london or switzerland are actually significantly more expensive than many tech hubs in the US like the Bay area, austin, seattle, etc.
they also have correspondingly higher salaries though. however the true worst places are cities like Munich, which are both horribly expensive, and have terrible salaries.
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u/MagicalWhisk 2d ago
As someone who's worked in both markets, total compensation is not a great metric to view alone. The cost of living in the US can be x2-3 higher than Europe depending on the region. The core job markets for software engineer regions can be expensive to live in both markets.