I am saying that as an European, just to be clear.
Expect 50% salary and taxes that will make your eyes water. French bureaucracy is kafkaesque even in 2026.
Other than that I agree I'd love to move there.
Of course. I just hope these people know that for example healthcare in Europe is by no means free.
There was a time in my life we had to decide in the middle of the night if we could afford to take one of our children to the ER in the US when they were a newborn. I will never have that feeling in Europe, and that is priceless. Tax me more, I will happily contribute to a functioning governance system. I like taxes, with them I contribute to civilization. As an American, I am all in on Europe. It's not perfect, but the bar is in hell.
We Asked 300 People About Health Care Costs. The Numbers Are Shocking. - https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/22/opinion/health-insurance-... | https://archive.today/MnYz9 - January 22nd, 2026
But yes, salary before taxes is much lower than in the US. If your goal is to make as much money as possible, either stay in US or move to a different European country (Northern Europe or Switzerland).
https://www.oecd.org/en/data/indicators/health-spending.html
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:OECD_health_expendit...
As a bonus, all that spend doesn't make us better in outcomes.
https://ourworldindata.org/us-life-expectancy-low#life-expec...
https://www.tech-careers.nl/job-seeker-visa-for-tech-roles-i...
You're "not really worrying" ... whilst you are in a job.
There fixed that for you.
As I am sure you are acutely aware US is the home of lay-offs and is generally easy to fire people.
If you loose your job in the US it becomes panic stations because you loose that precious employer-paid healthcare overnight.
Meanwhile in Europe ? Take your time job hunting a new job, healthcare is still free.
If you have a decent amount of experience I don't think you'd be looking for very long.
But as stated by other commenters, the salaries and lower and the taxes higher.
What you get back is great worker protection, child care, free education and generally a feeling of safety for yourself and family. We also have a democracy that offers more than two choices!
From 1 January 2024, expats who meet the conditions receive the following tax benefits:
- 30% tax free for the first 20 months;
- 20% tax free for the next 20 months;
- 10% tax free for the last 20 months.
So that's a tapered reduction over the first 5 years and the amount of money that you gain after tax is between negligeable and insultingly small.
Basically in its current form "The Dutch 30% ruling" is not really worth it, if you want to move to The Netherlands do it for other reasons, and the advertisment of this mechanism feels borderline disingenious in its current form.
Currently, healthcare coverage tend to be better in several European countries when you are jobless... because the system try to compensate the fact you do not have income anymore.
Don't get me wrong, their is many 'flaws' in several European healthcare systems and it is far from perfect. but it tends to be more "human" and less "for profit".
Europe is a _very_ different place.
Not everything here is so bad.
There is also NGI Sargasso which had EU grants being awarded to collaborations between parties in the EU and the US, working on internet innovation projects. Looks like that funding program has closed. Not sure if these open calls were slashed by the Trump government.
This is scaremongering - taxes are in no way 30% higher in EU.
Someone pulling mid-6-figures in the Valley is already paying a ~35% effective tax rate (state + medicare + federal). That same person taking a low-6-figures job in Spain would pay ~40% effective tax rate - and Beckam's Law would likely cut that to 24% for the first 6 years in any case
High risk, high reward and all that. Although, the previous 20 years of high compensation are obviously no indication of the next 20.
Afterwards you have to pay some of the highest taxes in the world....
However the average level of English ability in NL is extremely good, you won't meet many people who don't have really good English especially for younger generations. Definitely not the case in e.g. France or Italy
> The FMLA allows eligible employees to take up to 12 work weeks of unpaid leave during any 12-month period to care for a new child, care for a seriously ill family member, or recover from a serious illness.
There's limitations on that, but the common idea that Americans don't have healthcare is unfounded and appallingly ignorant.
"Despite spending nearly twice as much on healthcare per capita, utilization rates for many services in the United States is lower than other wealthy OECD countries."
"In fact, the United States spends over $1,000 per person on administrative costs — approximately five times more than the average of other wealthy countries"
"Despite higher healthcare spending, America’s health outcomes are not any better than those in other developed countries. The United States actually performs worse in some common health metrics like life expectancy, infant mortality, unmanaged diabetes, and safety during childbirth."
- https://www.pgpf.org/article/how-does-the-us-healthcare-syst...
I don't fear mass shootings any more than I fear terrorist perpetrated subway or event bombings.
> you're not going bankrupt because of a minor/medium medical condition
Medical debt and the discourse around it is interesting. Not having insurance is the fundamental issue, medical debt itself is legally mandated to be negotiable. As in they are legally required to find a negotiable payoff price that will work for your personal financial situation, similar to school debt. I pay $70/month for school debt and will for the next 25 years. Is that a lot? Yes. Does it matter to me? Not so much. I could be wrong about the medical debt, but I don't think i am.
> You can freely walk
This is huge and something that would drastically improve my quality of life in a substantial way. Love Europe for this. Love.
add social security percentage. while one still need real insurance and pension saving on top. yes, one 6 figure person have to pay two times. once for self and other one unemployed local drunk.
and on top, when one buys anything, all things are taxed 2x compared to usa(but i guess trump tries fo equalize that).
on top. there are prices for locals and foreigners. one will pay 2x for coffee, rent, parking, all.
and yeah, one is foreigner? does not know hidden language of locals? wait in all queues 2x longer. so social security medcine is something one never sees.
Mate, I made this exact move ~5 years ago, it's really not that hard to learn a foreign language and navigate a bit of bureaucracy (although I will admit, Spain may be better than most in this regard)
