Hmm. Interesting, I'd like to point out though 50K isn't a really comfortable salary in a major US metro anymore after federal/state tax, social security, healt

Hmm. Interesting, I'd like to point out though 50K isn't a really comfortable salary in a major US metro anymore after federal/state tax, social security, healthcare/misc. deduction. Add on top of 401(k) contribution and also monthly rent of 1K+ for rent in downtown (actually on the cheaper end of a 1BR apartment in NYC/Boston), you are down to literally peanuts. Boozing and eating out will literally have you living from month to month. I heard that this is the case in China nowadays too. Boozing and going out to bars in China is dollar-by-dollar as expensive as the States. Real estate is sky-rocketing. I looked into moving to China as well, your salary range looks comparable to the numbers I was told. But I'm not sure it 25K is even sustainable in Shenzhen. Perhaps cost of living there is lower than Shanghai, but my guess is that it's not that much lower as it's located in the Pearl River Delta.