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Comment by vostok | Hacker News Reader

Perhaps an average developer couldn't as the average is around $100k, but a realistically high earning one could. Consider someone who is a staff/senior staff/principal engineer at one of the usual places or someone who went through a nice exit. Forgive me if I read your comment too literally.

I think that's generally the conclusion that I come to: I'm very happy being realistically rich in America, but I'd much rather be in Europe if my financial situation were average for a software developer.

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$100K is a lot of money if you're not in the bay area or Seattle. People have such warped perspectives.

I intentionally used the literal average.

https://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/...

I am not arguing that this is or isn't a lot of money. For the record, I think that it is a lot of money. It's just not enough money to live OP's lifestyle in the US.

It's not enough money to live OP's lifestyle in the bay area. SLC was given as just one example of a city where it is.

SLC is not a nice, dense urban city in the way that Berlin is. It thus would not provide OP's lifestyle at any level of income.

It is disingenuous to equate the two.

It is also disingenuous to conveniently omit the fact that Berlin, as a major German city, enjoys economic benefits gained at the expense of other EU member countries. There's no such thing as a free lunch.

Cool - Houston, then.

Is that supposed to be a joke? Houston has a similar lifestyle to Berlin?

Mid-size city, similar size and population, more affordable. Living in the city and owning your own home there with one job is completely doable, as is childcare.

Usually 'lifestyle' in the context of affordability is used to describe a set of activities that cost a certain amount. Like eating out, going to the movies, having multiple cars, etc.

Houston is probably one of the least walkable cities in existence. It is nothing like Berlin.

Name ANYWHERE like Berlin. Surely that's the question? You can't swap Berlin for anywhere, surely? It is majorly disingenuous to choose Berlin, or Rome, or London, Or Paris, or Tokyo and ask for a similar place. There is NOWHERE like these cities. There can't be. That is their unique charm.

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