It's already hard to compare salary/cost-of-life across cities, and definitely impossible between countries like China, US and EU (in the extended meaning of "c

It's already hard to compare salary/cost-of-life across cities, and definitely impossible between countries like China, US and EU (in the extended meaning of "country"). As a rule of thumb, when comparing a US salary with an European, I divide by 2 the number and I roughly get the equivalent in EUR and after taxes* (and considering cultural differences like the healthcare is already included in taxes, etc.) So 30,000 USD/year would be something like 15000 EUR/year, which is extremely low even for a engineering graduate working in academia. * With "after taxes" I mean the part of the salary that you don't even receive, not the income tax that you pay (or receive back) once a year.