On the other hand, 6 figures salary is as well a rarity in Euros (in EUR currency countries) for engineers.

EDIT: I should had put more emphasis on "rarity" - lets say almost unimaginable. At least, I have an impression that it is much more common in USA.

Speaking as another European who has always been put off by the usual American conditions, money is not a very big concern to me beyond my (admittedly quite frugal) standard of living. Time is a far, far, far more important resource, and working in the USA seems to include insane hours and constant overtime and few vacations.

Also, I think you don't need that much money in Europe, thanks to things like socialized healthcare.

Also food companies are allowed to do way more dodgy stuff in USA. E.g. M&Ms can't even sell their peanut-butter version in UK because of additives.

Agreed. As you get older too, you start to appreciate how much time is burned by working. It's good to work, just it shouldn't dominate your waking life.

Your forgot to include nightmarish commutes in your list of North American time-vampires.

Well a quick multiplier of 1.35 means $135k in USD yearly for a 6 figure salary. Well that's a rarity even for software developers here in US unless you are pretty darn good. BTW, how much is the average salary paid by american companies in Europe ?

I would say that's middle-of-the road for an experienced engineer in NYC.

Location is everything, I suppose.

My time on earth with the ones I love, is more important than money.

Not really. In many EU countries it is about 3x of average salary.

living costs are much lower though, at least in the parts of the US where 100k are common. besides, what do you count as 'salary'? companies pay into the 401k and the social security, doesn't show up in the salary though. and they pay quite a bit depending on the actual salary.

Me too, except I lived here all my life.