The payscale links you provide in your blog provide some insight into why you seem to think that. In all of your examples (see links below for the lazy), the salary for a Senior Software Engineer is slightly below what payscale _thinks_ is the average national salary. The huge difference really lies in how payscale determines the "salary" in each country.

So, when compared to the average (which factors in cost of living, social security etc.), the salary really isn't that much better in the US:

US: http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Senior_Software_Engi... UK: http://www.payscale.com/research/UK/Job=Senior_Software_Engi... FR: http://www.payscale.com/research/FR/Job=Senior_Software_Engi... SE: http://www.payscale.com/research/SE/Job=Senior_Software_Engi... DE: http://www.payscale.com/research/DE/Job=Senior_Software_Engi...