I wouldn't say that you need to be at top of the field for that - just smart (smarter than you average dev I guess) and have 8-10 years of experience. Although

I wouldn't say that you need to be at top of the field for that - just smart (smarter than you average dev I guess) and have 8-10 years of experience. Although to be true, I don't think people at the top of the field make more than $200k-$300k (assuming the field is in demand), and these are rather uncommon cases - I imagine that is much more rarer than the same money in the US. On the other hand, pretty great deals can be had in Europe as well - I'm currently sitting in Poland making $160k, with low costs of living and taxes. Would need to probably make twice that much in California for the same lifestyle and yearly savings.