Military person that earns Canadian/US salary living in Germany. Lol, i'd like that arrangement also. I say this to my coworkers very often, if i can make a US salary or even 60-75% of what i make and live in eastern Europe i would do it in a heartbeat.
Germany is great, and in many ways cream of the crop of the EU, if you don't count the super small population wise Switzerland, Norway, Nederland, etc. Like i said i have cousins in their 30s that live in western Germany. They make between 2-3k euro per month and I've asked them dozens of times and they always say they would rather live in the US. Their little brother who's 20 year old recently visited the US and stayed for a few months and he was quite literally asking me if it's worth just staying here after his student visa expires illegally because he thinks it's way better here. He can literally go live in Germany legally and he'd rather risk it to stay here illegally. Of course i told him it's a bad idea and there's better ways.
Now lets carve out the Germany's or the other top rich mostly northwestern EU countries. Majority of Europeans are living in 2k euros per month or less. Huge portion of that goes to taxes. Huge portion of that goes to housing. Western large Euro cities are now overrun with migrants with native ethnics being a minority increasingly in most of these cities. Petty crime is sky rocketing, knife attacks, robberies, etc. Huge youth unemployment rates across the Euro south. I could keep listing major issues but you get my drift. I love Europe and maybe one day i will return but certainly not to any major western cities that have become unlivable in. Maybe one day after i have a nice nest egg it'll be worth it living in some Sicilian or Greek village.
I don't know how suppressed violence statistics are in the EU considering their recent history of trying to sweep rising issues under the rug to maintain a facade of control but I cant very-well imagine they're that much higher, and I would guess lower than most American densely populated cities. Violent crime that is.
Yes, I did not consider he would have been making a North American military pay while posted. Though that does not discount his takes on public education for his 3 girls.
I had a friend come to the USA because working at Water World was better pay in the summer than any summer job he could obtain in Romania lmao. But Romania, Croatia, all are not very good for the lower-mid class.
This post was edited by SBD on May 26 2025 09:29am