You're comparing median salary in Berlin with the high end in the US, and you are ignoring much of the complexities that were already mentioned such as the incredibley high cost of living in San Francisco where google and facebook pay those salaries.
I'm in the Boston market and median salary for devs is around 80-90k when you include all skill levels, but every single dev I know has roommates or an hour+ commute into the city and higher healthcare costs than Germany.
I'd believe that you would make more overall money in the US once you got to the higher end of the market, but it's not as simple as a calculation as you are making it out to be
Berlin is a start-up hub, and its a place i know. I cant speak for Zurich from first hand experience.
Im just emphasizing that the fact that europe has benefits, it does not necessarily (or likely) outweigh the difference in salary from one to the other. You are certainly taxed more by a lower wage and by a higher tax rate that could compensate ubering every day and private schooling.
That's the point everyone else is making, yet conanbatt keeps coming back to comparing salaries between Berlin and San Francisco as an example of higher salaries in the US. Berlin is not even the highest paying city in Germany, let alone Europe.
I'd go as far as claiming Berlin is a very low paid place in Europe. Living costs and standards are quite low here compared to Munich or Amsterdam. You'd earn 50% more there for the same work.
This generally won't solve the commute issue; you spend time driving, parking, on the train, walking/subway to work area. And then all of that in reverse. You still 'lose' 50+ minutes each way.
Do you not have student loans? A few people in my social circle managed to get out of college without them through parents paying/scholarships and they have a much different calculus than the majority of us
I know several devs who are within a few minutes walk of a commuter rail and still deal with the hour+ commute. The best I've seen is my own 12 minute walk I had for a few months but the job didnt pay nearly enough for the rent in the same area and I had to move on to a new job, or if you get the reverse commute, but those are uncommon
I'm in the Boston market and median salary for devs is around 80-90k when you include all skill levels, but every single dev I know has roommates or an hour+ commute into the city and higher healthcare costs than Germany.
I'd believe that you would make more overall money in the US once you got to the higher end of the market, but it's not as simple as a calculation as you are making it out to be