📊 Initial Salary Insights: The Stack Overflow Data 📈

It is very interesting the insights offered by Stack Overflow every year. Nearly 65,000 developers revealed which language they use most, where they come from, their role, and also how much they earn. Scrolling to the “salary by developer type” section, it is found that an Engineering Manager in the United States earns an average of $152k, positioning at the first place of that chart.  

🤔 The Relocation Question: Is it Worth It? 🇪🇸🇺🇸

The first thought that might come to mind is: Amazing! Should one start thinking to relocate there? Further investigation reveals that, thanks to SalaryAfterTax calculations, a salary of $152,000 per year corresponds to a net salary of $8,750 per month in New York. Still a significant amount of money! How much is the average salary for the same position in Barcelona? Thanks to Hays GuiaSalarial, it can be found that, on average, for a manager with 2 to 5 years of experience, the salary stays between €65,000 and €75,000. How much is that without taxes, monthly? Taking into consideration the minimum of €65,000, it corresponds, after tax, to €3,792 per month.  

💰 The Cost of Living Factor 🏠

Now that the information on the net income in New York and Barcelona is available, how much would one really need in New York to maintain the same lifestyle being lived in Barcelona? According to Numbeo, with a salary of €3,792, one would need $9,241.48 to live the same life in New York. This means that the minimum average salary in Barcelona, for an Engineering Manager, is $491.48 more than the average in the U.S. Or, to look at it from the opposite perspective, one would need €3,590.33 to live the same life in Barcelona as the one lived in the United States.  

🌴 Lifestyle and Value 💯

Now, assuming that companies offer the same benefits in Spain and in the U.S. (private insurance, bonus, gym, etc.), and considering other benefits that a smaller city like Barcelona can provide: relatively short commuting distances, to go to work but also to the beach, or cheap “menú del dia” (a full meal) at €12, if one is a manager and their company in Barcelona pays according to the market rate, they should definitely feel themselves richer than their equivalent colleague in the United States. The same tools can be used to compare with other cities, and if relocation is being considered, time should be spent researching and not believing the first person saying that a flat can easily be rented in Barcelona for just 700 euro. But this is another story.