> on a salary of $150,000 Europe is about bringing everyone to the average. It is not a land of extremes like the US. Your $150k example salary is super super

> on a salary of $150,000 Europe is about bringing everyone to the average. It is not a land of extremes like the US. Your $150k example salary is super super high for Europe so it's going to get pushed way down to be closer to the average. If you take your example but change the salary to any number in the lower / middle class range, you are going to be far better off. That is just the nature of the EU vs the US. If you're rich, the US is great. If you're not rich, you're probably better off in Europe.