Better schools for your kids, safer cities, better public transport, more and better maintained parks, better local produce. There are a lot of potential reasons for a decision like that.
You have better schools in the US if you live in the right neighborhood. Also, getting called "pig eater" is likely not tolerated in the US.
"safer cities"
Europe is trying hard to catch up.
"better public transport"
The only good thing. Yet, nothing beats public transport in NYC.
"more and better maintained parks"
Not sure about this.
"better local produce"
If you can afford to buy at Whole Paycheck, you get everything.
"There are a lot of potential reasons for a decision like that."
The bottom line is: if you have money, life is better in the states. If you are poor, go to Germany.
It depends on where you are coming from I guess. I never really thought about people leaving the US. More like an intra-European competition for talent.
My point was however more targeted on the "go back home" guys. I (German) know several guys from Romania, Spain .. who don't plan to stay in Germany forever and just want to work here for a few years, earn good money (well compared to their country) and then return home.
This is however not possible if your home country has a higher cost of living.
Maybe that is so. But my point is still valid. If I PLAN to do this I cannot go to a country where salaries are much lower than in my home country where I want to return.
Can't speak for the others, but here's Sofia's situation(at least from my experience):
- don't know about schools, but kindergardens are a privilege you'll be fighting for
- it's fairly safe, obviously exercise common sense
- the metro is great, but it only covers part of the city, the rest of public transit ranges from ok to abysmal, but if you pay for a year, it's cheap as hell too. But I've certainly had no need for a car, so it's doable if inconvenient at times.
- cycling infrastructure is horrible, and there isn't enough of it, but it's there at least and I don't think it's stopped anyone who wants to cycle
- Parks are fine, plus there's a mountain here, so if you need green, you got it.
Other factors you might want to consider:
- air quality and traffic are horrible, especially in winter
- night life is fine
- you can find good food, and you can find cheap food, and if you look, you can find good cheap food.
- gov healthcare is bad, but if you're in tech, your employer might give you additional private insurance, so it's not something I've had to worry about.
- taxes are low
- alcohol is cheap and there are no ridiculous "no sale of alcohol on Sundays or after 10pm" rules some western countries seem to like :).
- tech scene is active so if you want to hang around with techies, you won't be bored
- cheap marginal space is very much available if you don't want/need a glossy hip office in a nice location.
Personally I love it and it's main advantage is that although it's much more expensive than the rest of the country, it's still cheap as hell. I don't make much but I save a lot, I could probably afford to work only every other year if I was frugal enough. I did consider moving for the north-west a while ago, but I did the math and...yeah, the up in purchasing power would be there, but not enough to justify leaving. I still might do it just for the novelty and experience at some point.
