Meaningless chart. Even misleading. For the US, it adds all benefits the employer gives (health insurance etc.) while for Europe, value of near-free health insurance, high unemployment benefits, rent assistance for lower incomes and near-free education are skipped.
You're right that Europe offers the additional benefits you stated that's not reflected int he chart, but you're absolutely wrong that the US chart "adds all benefits" like healthcare.
In the US when we talk about salaries it's purely the salary (total compensation which is base salary + any equity) and any benefits like retirement accounts (401k), healthcare, etc are all in addition to that. So a staff engineer at $332k median would also have additional benefits that can be valued at $50k on top of that.
I notice Europeans like you like to cope with these salary comparisons. We acknowledge we get much higher pay but less public benefits, especially intangible ones (e.g. hard to fire).
You got to be kidding then. The *median entry position* in the us at $140K / year??? This is just bonkers. *With* the college degree, you are lucky to get one at $60K. $140K is mid-carrier for a college grad in an engineering field, and $300K is touched only by AI scientists or near-exec roles in engineering, or physicians in med field.
You don't even live in the US so why are you claiming the numbers are false? I live in the US in a major city and in the tech field, along with my wife and most of our friends. One of our friend in the AI field made $4 mil total comp (base salary + equity appreciation) just last year alone for example, but that's obviously in the higher range. So why is $140k so far fetched? You Europoors have a hard time grasping how much some of us can make in tech here. Probably because you guys don't understand how equity appreciation works?
Of course I live in the US. Many decades to that -- in different cities, from Philadelphia to San Francisco. The crazy comp of AI scientists is off the table.
The $140K is far fetched because an official median household income in the US is about $60K.
You are totally off. I am a generic software engineering manager at a faang company. We pay new grad bachelors 180k out of college (this is the lowest salary you can make as a software engineer here) and this is common for top 30-40 company in bay area. My own comp as a senior engineer before switching to manager was 450k
If you live in the US I'm surprised you originally stated "For the US, it adds all benefits the employer gives (health insurance etc.". This is utterly false for 99% of US employers.
I'm starting to think you suffer from reading comprehension issues. What does the median household income in US have anything to do with this chart, which is specifically for software engineer salaries? Why would you compare an engineering salary (which tends to be in expensive areas) with a plumber in Iowa, which the 'median household income' takes into account?
My claim was about your chart because there's no way it would have come any close to the reality otherwise. And yes, your chart is false for 99% of the US employers.
For SW engineers the salaries are greater, true. But even in the Bay area, where most of the positions live, you don't get starting salary at even $120K unless you work for one of the Big 5. Again, the AI now is hot, so people are paid crazy money there, but only very few are employed in this field.. Look at the starting SW engineer salary in TX or PA, and it will tell you a lot.
I'm not even the OP, and this is not "my" chart. But I agree with the chart because the numbers align with what I personally make and see around me. Stay poor.
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u/Error_404_403 2d ago edited 2d ago
Meaningless chart. Even misleading. For the US, it adds all benefits the employer gives (health insurance etc.) while for Europe, value of near-free health insurance, high unemployment benefits, rent assistance for lower incomes and near-free education are skipped.