Ricardo Araujo on LinkedIn: The same job is paid 40% more in the US vs. Europe. Sometimes even higher.… | 74 comments (2024)

Bryan Butler

Catastrophe Risk Modeling | Data Science & Predictive Modeling | Time Series

12mo

Basically, the take-home percentage is the same in US and EU, but you actually get healthcare and other benefits for your taxes. Lose your job in the US, you lose your healthcare.Also, in Texas, your probability of being shot, experiencing 40 C temps, and cost of utilities goes through the roof. Enjoy a $500+ month AC bill. Add in tornadoes, wildfires, hurricanes and floods - TX is the most natural-disaster prone state in the US.You can’t walk anywhere because it’s not built for that.The grass is not always greener and there are many hidden costs.For many people in the US, healthcare is called GoFundMe for anything serious.

Larry Lathrop

Google Sheets Fanboy

12mo

Ricardo Araújo I love how you point this out but I am with Bryan Butler on this about the hidden cost.Living in Spain and visiting Amsterdam, some big things we have to pay for in the states are different than the EU.For instance in the states you need a car. Public transportation is nothing like it is in EU.When we have a car you pay about 500 ISD a month just on the car if your credit sucks. Then you have car insurance which can be about 250 USD. That is 750 a month just to use the car. Now add gas. Gas may be cheaper in the states but my goodness you use it for everything!Just look at people who go to Starbucks. That alone kills a few bucks in the wait line!

Guilherme Rocha

OutSystems Consultant @Bosch | Certified Web Developer Specialist | Low-Code | Innovation

12mo

It will be like a domino game... if US has been taking talents from EU, I would say that the natural path would be EU getting talents from other places. That's the meaning behind remote positions.

Antonio Dahdah Pérez

Interim TA Lead @Bauer Media Group || IT - BPO - Public Sector - Fintech || Merit-based hiring || Now hiring across the media space 🗡️🛡️

12mo

I would still rather live in Texas and have financial freedom. I'd be making more, paying less on taxes and pay for my health insurance which will be a lot cheaper than what I pay in taxes each month and get high quality healthcare. But most Europeans are not ready for that conversation.

Jose Crespo

Mathematician lurking in the Tech Underworld

12mo

Let alone Europe, software development is a low-prestige job, kinda an IT blue-collar janitor, framed by a very specific tech stack where the programmer is treated like a code monkey at the bottom of the hierarchy in a non-IT company. Salaries are ridiculously low as a consequence, to the point that in Germany, it is better to do a less stressful menial job supplemented with government aid from Hartz IV than to work as a software engineer.

Susana P.

Senior Data Scientist | Computational Biologist -> Studying The Code of Life for more than a decade😊

12mo

This doesn't consider that Americans have higher costs with healthcare and transportation. Insurances are not cheap. Healthcare costs are not cheap. There's less job protection. That's why you find more people living below poverty level in America than Europe. There isn't a price on peace of mind knowing that you won't go bankrupt if you end up in a medical emergency.

João Conde

Software Engineer

11mo

I pay 50 euros for a dentist appointment in Portugal, in the US would that not be closer to 5000 dollars :) ?

Raúl Machado

Scientific Computing Scientist in Mathematics-Statistics | Machine Learning | Causal Inference | Implementation and Development in Data Science

12mo

Such comparison is skewed Ricardo, for the following main reasons:1- Because in many European countries, for every cent the employer pays the employee, the employer has to pay a cent to the state in social services and a bunch of other fees and taxes. In addition to that, the employee pays taxes to his income. That is, it cost more to have employees in Europe than in USA. 2- This reason is hidden and few want to talk about it:There is the possibility to stay in USA unlike in many European countries. For instance, people from the "3rd world" go to USA to study, not necessarily because the education is cheaper and/or better but because there are programs, e.g., OPT, H-1B, after graduation. 3- USA standard of living is way higher than in Europe. Europe is poor, in comparison with USA and thus, no one buy the BS idea that "The perfect scenario for any European is to live in Europe with an American salary". 4- Europe xenophobic compared to USA.Europeans have killed each other for centuries, e.g. they speak differently despite, in some cases, are genetically similar. In USA you can be whatever you want. Let alone you can find any type of weather in USA, from Miami stinky humid hot to cold-dark Alaska and everything in-between.

Kevin Tran

Research Scientist @ Stanford GSB | LinkedIn Top Voice 2019 in Data Science & Analytics

12mo

You have to factor TAX into account. To make it apple to apple comparison, it has to be after-tax comparison. The number may look high but much less after tax. The government both federal and state take a huge portion from your earning.

Anton P.

Software Engineer

12mo

All the same again and again.First of all, all those ranks do not count a lot of things, that are very expensive. For example, in the US people need to dedicate a big part of their salary for an education of a child. A kindergarten would cost you around 2000 USD, a good school is about 1500-2000USD per month or you can put your kid into public one, but a living place next to the good public school will be double in price.A college degree would cost you around 100-150 k in total.A medical insurance is not covering all expenses that you might have, so usually people take credits to pay medical expenses, like 100-150 USD per month for a family. And if medical insurance is not provided by your employer, be ready to pay another 700- 900 USD per family per month.A car insurance is about 90 USD per month.Due to big distances and the absence of public transport, you need to change your car every 7-9 years, which is like 30 k USD every 7-9 years plus another 300-400 USD every month for gas and around 300-2000 for a regular maintenance of a car per year.Plus a lot of goods are way more expensive than in EU, because you can assemble everything in the Eastern or southern Europe and it is a lot cheaper, that assembling the same thing in the US, the base salary for a simple worker in a factory is about 3-4 k per month, which is triple from base salary in Portugal or Hungary...And etc, etc, etcIf you really think that US is so great in terms of monthly profits after all expenses, come and try to live there. Your opinion will change shortly.