Indeed, and the children make a big difference. There's a lot of support related to raising kids in France, and as you point out the cost of education is widely

Indeed, and the children make a big difference. There's a lot of support related to raising kids in France, and as you point out the cost of education is widely different. When I considered staying in the Silicon Valley ~15 years ago I looked into this a bit --- rough assessment, not detailed study. It seemed at the time that with up to a single kid SV was more interesting money-wise, but with 2 kids France became more attractive again. As an inexperienced foreigner I may have missed some cost factor for SV, and the sky-rocketing cost of education in the US may give a different result today. In the end I came back to France for reasons unrelated to money: there's just no place like home ;)