Went I left Russia in 2011, I was making 54,000 a year, I took my first job in the USA for about $92,000 a year. It felt like I took a huge pay cut. Like I was making several times less money.
Yes, it is easier to buy luxury things in United States, most of the things are cheaper, comparing to other countries (SLK, laptops, phones, etc). But that is not what defines the life.
If I remember everything correctly, below is break down of monthly spending Russia vs USA in that time. Based on my annual pay, my monthly salaries were $4,500 in Russia, $7,700 in USA
Let's compare (first number is spent in Russia, second in USA), everything per month. At that time I used to use the money-spent tracking software, so kind of remember pretty well most of the bills.
- Taxes: 7% (~$300) vs ~18% ($1386)
- Rent: $300 vs $1200
- Cellular: $20 vs $100 (2 people)
- Internet: $10 vs $60
- Medical: $0 vs $200 (co-pays, dentals, plus paying for spouse to keep her on the plan)
- Groceries: $300 vs $1000
- Cinema/Bars: $100 vs $300
- Commute: $20 vs $100
- Car insurance: $20 vs $100
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- What is left: $3430 vs $3254.
At the end, comparing the Russian's salary vs USA - based on just common spent, I ended up with a little less money to keep on hands. And it always felt like those money that left way easier to spend in USA without even looking. Clothes, shoes, concerts, etc.
For me, only when I started to get more than $250,000 a year in USA, I felt that I was making a salary, that I could compare to one I had in Russia.
Few notes: I lived not in the very big city, just around 600,000 people, so rent and everything way cheaper comparing to Moscow or St Petersburg. $54,000 a year is very high salary in Russia, not very common, I used to work remotely for UK based company.
P.S. I never regretted moving to USA (especially now), yes, it did feel like I was making less, but the companies I was working for, the products, the people, are on different level. I learned a lot. Built my own company, living American dream.