Comment by surgical_fire
1 month ago
I could make 2x-3x if I moved to the US.
Turns out I can live a pretty comfortable life with EU salary. I could afford a house, car, family. Quality of Life is pretty great.
I am not sure if the extra money in the US would be worth it.
>I could afford a house, car, family.
You're in the minority now in EU if you can afford to have those things now. The housing and CoL crunch is real and many industries suffered layoffs. Q3 2025 youth unemployment is around 20-25% in several EU countries including developed ones like Finland, it's no longer an issue just for the less developed southern ones.
>I am not sure if the extra money in the US would be worth it.
Since you already have a house and everything, then yeah it makes no sense for you. But I would do it in a heartbeat if I could.
> You're in the minority now in EU if you can afford to have those things now.
A quick search tells me that home ownership in the EU is Approximately 70%, ranging from around 95% in countries such as Romania and Slovakia, to around 50% in Germany. Non-EU citizens disproportionately owns less houses.
So, no. I am not at all in the minority.
Youth unemployment is an issue, being 15% in the EU as a whole, with some countries hovering on 30%. The US has 10% of youth unemployment (considering their labor laws are appallingly bad for workers, I am not sure if this is much of an improvement).
> Since you already have a house and everything, then yeah it makes no sense for you. But I would do it in a heartbeat if I could.
Good for you, may you achieve your goals.
I didn't own a house until a year ago. Refusing offers from the US and moving to EU was likely the best decision I ever made.
I had a life threatening illness not long ago. In the US I would likely be either bankrupt of dead. I appreciate the safety net and labor protections here, even with the higher taxes.
> to around 50% in Germany.[...] Non-EU citizens disproportionately owns less houses.[...] So, no. I am not at all in the minority.
Do you see the issue here?
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You are right, going the other way can be tough though.
There are hobbies and interests you can pursue with a tech salary in the US that are somewhat out of reach in Europe without generational wealth.
Curious: What hobbies etc are out of reach on an EU tech salary?
I may be wrong but my understanding is that it's not uncommon to find out someone in the USA is a private pilot, no matter what their job is (e.g., if your grocer or mechanic mentioned they have a license you'd not be shocked).
Apparently it's much rarer in the EU, but that might not only be a cost issue.
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Planes, boats, racing, horses.
The rule of thumb is that expensive hobbies cost in a year what the median yearly income in your area is.
A European tech salary would be about 2x of the median while a US tech salary can be 5-6x.
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