I'm not convinced that that's sustainable though, and I think it might be an artifact of the dollar reserve currency status etc., because US firms cost more for

I'm not convinced that that's sustainable though, and I think it might be an artifact of the dollar reserve currency status etc., because US firms cost more for a given yearly profit. Just look at Boeing vs Airbus. I also lived better in Sweden when I was a PhD student, than I would have if I went to Washington and took an H1B job for 100k. I think the cutoff would be at somewhere soon above 120k. Maybe at 130k-140k, I would be able to live in Washington approximately as well as I could live in Sweden as a PhD student, but it would substantially more stressful. Maybe 130-140k isn't much to long-term Googlers, but I think this is closer to salaries that people actually pay for H1Bs than these 500k+ salaries. The built environment in the US doesn't really correspond to the nominal prices, so in a way, America is only interesting economically if you're planning to go back home.