>So you're saying $30-$40k for SDE in Spain, the internet seems to say $10k above that, but never mind. My knowledge is from Northern Europe, so I'm basing my m

>So you're saying $30-$40k for SDE in Spain, the internet seems to say $10k above that, but never mind. My knowledge is from Northern Europe, so I'm basing my math on that. Those were the numbers I found when looking into an extended stay in Spain. Seems to line up with the first result on the internet (google). https://www.payscale.com/research/ES/Job=Software_Engineer/Salary https://www.payscale.com/research/ES/Job=Software_Engineer/S... Where are you getting your numbers? Here are mine: https://www.levels.fyi/Salaries/Software-Engineer/San-Francisco-Bay-Area/ https://www.levels.fyi/Salaries/Software-Engineer/San-Franci... >So in our case, the average SDE salary here is $98k Where is "here" ? At this point we might as well be comparing states with such an insane variability of nearly double the salary (if your numbers are correct). We're flipping between Europe and your country, lol >So you're left with something like $1000 to $1500 a month for discretionary spending. And you have basically no commute and live in a perfectly safe place with free healthcare. Well, that's exactly my point. Using your same scenario, an average SDE in the "most expensive city" makes $230k. After 3-5 years its close to $300k. If their spouse is a teacher, they make ~65k. That's easily 2-2.5x the salary right there. Again though, while the bay area is popular, its not for everyone and there's thousands of remote jobs that pay $130k+, allowing you to live anywhere. >As for "Europeans try very hard to get jobs in the US" - that is not supported by the data I never said most foreign devs are coming from Europe, just that often Europeans have and continue to move to the US in pursuit of better SDE opportunities. The opposite can't be said.