You're not looking at cost of education (the UK is a European outlier on that one) or healthcare (a disaster in the US), or price of vaguely healthy food (just

You're not looking at cost of education (the UK is a European outlier on that one) or healthcare (a disaster in the US), or price of vaguely healthy food (just compare a middle-class Safeway or Walmart to a middle-class Carrefour in France for example), or the cost of cars, going on vacation (super expensive in the US), the number of holidays, etc. Direct money comparaisons doesn't explain everything unfortunately, and if you just look at that the US is clearly ahead..