Nobody is disputing the raw numbers. The point being made is those numbers are meaningless without taking more variables into account.

If you earn more but have less disposable income each month than someone doing the same job in London then who gives a shit if you have more zeros on your pay check?

That’s the crux of the matter here. Comparing salaries is meaningless if you don’t factor in who your disposable income is after expenses.

Or to put it another way, if you were a business then you cannot think of yourself as an angel invested unicorn start up. So you have to make a personal profit each month. If your outgoings are greater then you need to charge more. It’s simple mathematics.

> editing in house prices is blatantly moving the goalposts.

How is paying rent / mortgage not part of one’s cost of living?

This is the literal point everyone has been making to you from the start!

Edit: I’m going to throw in the towel now. Literally every European has explained why this article is worthless for any real comparison. But obviously you, as an American, know better than us, who work and live in Europe, about just how much money we take home each month from our jobs in Europe.