I'm still looking for a golden tool to convert total compensation plus geography into expected happiness.
Those aren't going to be worth it for the average person unless you live in Norway, Luxembourg, or the UAE. I doubt there's any country where those outweigh the average programmer salary difference, let alone after taxes. Even if you have a serious health condition and crappy health insurance, deductibles cap out at $7,000/year.
[1]: https://www.advisory.com/daily-briefing/2019/05/02/health-ca...
Developers making 300,000$ a year don't make up the entirety of the US population. I think living somewhere where everyone gets an opportunity at life contributes greatly to overall happiness and helps reduce social tensions.
Good urban design, a nationalized electricity grid, or train system also contribute a lot to the disparity in taxes and salaries.
- rampant homelessness problem
- getting your car broken into, home burglarized, robbed, etc.
- police brutality
- gun crime
- higher rate of traffic accidents
- larger distances to travel / commute
- abortion rights
- political diversity
and so on.
I'm obviously not saying that those are at all unique to the US, but many of those things are more frequent in the US than comparable west-European countries.
Of course, if you live in a very nice area - those are things you might never experience in the US (at least as far as crime goes).