I’m paying around 120-130k in Amsterdam which has a similar CoL to Berlin.
But it was a huge paycut. I’m definitely happier than I was in the US but I have been considering moving a bit further south. Bumping up to 120k and getting more sunshine would be very nice.
I am applying currently, don't know how that will turn out, but he manager even said that Swedish developers are cheaper for the company than people from Germany, Switzerland and I think even Poland was getting bigger wages.
So Sweden has this low-wage aura apparently.
That’s how I justify it here at least. I mean, I make 500.000kr less than I did in the US, but 900k also puts me in the top 5% of all earners in Norway. So I have a very good quality of life.
The middle class is so compressed here that it’s a super cozy income, and I will never have to worry about anything financially or healthcare related for the rest of my life.
I just have moments of «I want more», which is when I get anxiety and look elsewhere. But honestly not sure I need it in any real way.
Premium areas are London and Paris. But even these salaries are closer to a middle rate USA city.
Super-premium (on par with more expensive USA salaries like SF or NYC) is Switzerland. Very expensive to hire there and easily the highest salaries in Europe in my experience.
This is just based on a CoL ratings at a single place.
When looking at offers there, there is absolutly nothing beyond 70k.
Companies tend to have a ladder and different paths/comp levels for managers and individual contributors. Different regions are then sliced into different levels and what you're left with is location, a role, and a level. These are combined to create a salary band which is the range an employee that fits into the profile.
It's important to note, it's a salary band. This means an individual can have a fairly wide range of total compensation across this band. Also, some companies are biased towards salary or stock options/RSUs. But generally, an employee will have a lower "comp-ratio" meaning they are under the middle of the band. This leaves room for raises, etc. At some point an employee will be at the top of their band. They are either promoted into a higher level, kept at their current level but only given CoL increases (bands tend to increase ~3% each year), or fired.
The company can decide how competitive they want to be in each region or choose to not hire in a region because it is too expensive to be competitive there.