Well, economic factors play a role. At least on paper, ~100k$/year in SF/Silicon Valley fresh out of college seems like a sweet deal from other countries (perso

Well, economic factors play a role. At least on paper, ~100k$/year in SF/Silicon Valley fresh out of college seems like a sweet deal from other countries (personally I started at 36ke/year aka 40k$/year in France) and the complete salary grid looks like that. But there is also the technical and professional factors, most of the big tech firms are US based, and even if these are international companies, a large chunk of their man power and all key decision making is US based. That being said, working for a (formerly) French company that was acquired by a large US tech company, I saw very few people taking the opportunity to relocate in the US when we were acquired, maybe 3 or 4 at most on a work force of ~100. And personally I don't see myself migrating to the US.