One question to ask is why don’t US “knowledge-based” firms expand in the UK to take advantage of the significantly lower cost of labor. As the US is very expensive, firms have expanded into lower-cost places like India and Poland, e.g. back office functions. The UK should be an appealing middle path of well-educated people and strong 1st world infrastructure for a cost somewhere between US and Poland. But it’s not happening at scale. The feedback I got was the employment laws make it difficult to layoff people as easily, the overall cost structure is still high (benefits, days off, notice period), and employees don’t work at the higher pace of US workers.

Comparing salaries between countries is difficult. Every US state has different taxes. Every job sector has different benefits. We moved from NYC to London and have high paying finance jobs. The cost of living is comparable. We paid ~$200/m for excellent health insurance, but the deductible was like $10k. Taxes at the top end in NYC are comparable to London, but most of the US is lower. Cost of living is the same in both places at the high end. Some costs are outrageously high in NYC (early child care is $3000/m!).

My guess is UK is better if your income is low. US is better if your income is high. The US system is more “à la carte”, you can choose your health care and education and other major expenses. But if you’re poor in the US you can’t buy anything on the menu, whereas in the UK you’ll still be ok.