I think it's just more well-balanced over here to be honest. For Denmark: 1. We have a much more chill working situation. You work a regular work day, you're n

I think it's just more well-balanced over here to be honest. For Denmark: 1. We have a much more chill working situation. You work a regular work day, you're not the property of the company you work at, you do not have non-compete clauses (the company would have to pay your salary in full as long as it was valid), a lot of things that in the US come from post-tax salary is handled by the tax (education for you and your kids, healthcare, etc.) 2. Trying your luck as entrepreneur is easier and much lower risk than in the US. It's also quite easy to get "free" entrepreneurial government grants of small to medium sizes. As a result, there tends to be more, smaller startups, and bootstrapping is popular. When VCs aren't involved, salaries tend to be less astronomical. 3. Software engineer salaries in the US are blown completely out of proportions, and too market-distorting to be goal to have. Just moving to where the salary is highest with no other consideration for anything else sounds... Short-sighted, narrow-minded and greedy (but not in a smart way).