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Comment by ensan | Hacker News Reader

Is it just me, or are the salaries much lower in UK than in US? Why?

The US by far leads the world in profitable software companies and venture capital funding. The competition for talent in Silicon Valley combined with the huge amount of money generated/raised ends up increasing US engineer salaries even outside California over time.

We don't have to pay for healthcare for one ;D

Cost of living is generally lower AFAIK, too

I wonder what that looks like versus Purchasing Power Parity. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)

My salary in Germany (€60K) and apartment in a not great neighborhood was €900 a month.

Here in the US, I pull $150K and spend ~3K a month on a studio. I think my standard of living in Germany (besides desperately missing air conditioning) was roughly the same.

I make about €48000 after taxes in Romania. And while the standards of living might be the same, it only matters while we are not competing for the same goods. You can afford a better car than me, better electronics, nicer trips in foreign countries, and so on since those kind of goods tend to have the same prices no matter where you live.

Also, your savings means more.

>I make about €48000 after taxes in Romania

Wow, that's insanely impressive. Can I ask how that's possible? I'm making that *BEFORE taxes, in Austria, Which nets me significantly less than you in take home pay and savings.

I have 15 years of experience and I know how to sell my services.

It's kind of low wage for Austria. At my former working place, my colleagues from Germany made €5-6000 / month, at least.

Are you working for a company in Romania or remotely for a US one?

I might consider retiring back to Romania is salaries back home have gotten that high.

For a company in Romania.

Yeah, Germany just doesn't pay well enough (outside of FAANG/big-tech) compared to the insane housing costs.

I'd rather make big tech salaries with big tech health insurance than a UK salary with the NHS.

There are other quality of life factors too, that salary will get you a large house with a large garden, at least 30 days annual leave (on top of sick days/maternity/paternity etc) and very rarely is there overtime or crunch

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