Lawyers have higher average salaries in the US, though there are plenty of lawyers in the US who don't make all that much. German billing requirements are ofte

Lawyers have higher average salaries in the US, though there are plenty of lawyers in the US who don't make all that much. German billing requirements are often lower. My personal experience was 1150 in Germany and 1650 in the US, while my spouse's was 1300 in Germany and 1900 in the US. If you factor a 1900 hour billing req at $120,000 (new lawyer at a bigger firm or experienced at a smaller firm) with a $20,000 bonus in the US going to maybe an in-house company position for $85,000 (US) and 1300 hours with little or no bonus and maybe 10-15% higher tax rate, then it can sure seem like a 2x or 3x pay cut. But the quality of life is much different. I know plenty of US lawyers who earn 6 figures but work the equivalent of more than 2 full time jobs' worth of hours to do it. My spouse and I are planning to move back to Germany within about 6 months. We each have jobs as lawyers lined up (one definite, one tentative), and we will be taking nowhere near a 2x to 3x pay cut even factoring taxes. Based on changes in the US tax code, I am not even sure that my spouse's salary overall will be less there than here. Mine, I think, will be, but that's partly because of circumstances. So, I'm not saying you're wrong, by any means, but to take a 2x to 3x pay cut moving from the US to Germany working as a lawyer seems to me like there's more involved than only taxes.