Fair point, quality of life has a lot of non-fungible aspects (and I saw this as someone who has lived in 5 metro areas and 3 continents over the last 15 years)

Fair point, quality of life has a lot of non-fungible aspects (and I saw this as someone who has lived in 5 metro areas and 3 continents over the last 15 years), however the difference does not all get eaten by cost of living, especially if you stay disciplined. A single reasonably strong SDE you can pretty easily be making $250k, even after exorbitant bay area rents you can still save/invest 1-2x your total equivalent EU salary. Even just coming and living a frugal lifestyle for 5-10 years can be life changing. That said, with the rise of big tech satellite offices and remote work, there is definitely a path to €150k+ total comp without leaving the EU, and over time this should put upward pressure on salaries across the board (London is ahead of the curve here).