Here are the two markets I was comparing: Seattle salaries: https://www.levels.fyi/Salaries/Software-Engineer/Greater-Seattle-Area/ https://www.levels.fyi/Sala

Here are the two markets I was comparing: Seattle salaries: https://www.levels.fyi/Salaries/Software-Engineer/Greater-Seattle-Area/ https://www.levels.fyi/Salaries/Software-Engineer/Greater-Se... Switzerland salaries: https://www.levels.fyi/Salaries/Software-Engineer/Switzerland/ https://www.levels.fyi/Salaries/Software-Engineer/Switzerlan... Cost-of-living Seattle vs. Zurich: https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=United+States&country2=Switzerland&city1=Seattle%2C+WA&city2=Zurich https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?cou... Income tax burden in Seattle @200k p.a. was 26.28% in 2019: https://smartasset.com/taxes/income-taxes#qWHU75h5ug https://smartasset.com/taxes/income-taxes#qWHU75h5ug Income tax burden in Zurich @200k p.a. was 20.41% in 2019: https://swisstaxcalculator.estv.admin.ch/#/taxburden/income-wealth-tax https://swisstaxcalculator.estv.admin.ch/#/taxburden/income-... So you "pay" 8% of purchasing power to get everything I mentioned (plus socialized health care but let's not go there).