After visiting Copenhagen I'm shocked to find Danish salaries are that low...If you pay 50% taxes I can't imagine living on €40k/y with Copenhagen prices.
You certainly don't move to Copenhagen long term to make money. You come for the quality of life! The accumulation of wealth is just not as big of a deal here as it is in the UK or the US. Most people trust the state to take care of them should they need help, and people generally trust each other to contribute to the economy if they are fit and able.
If you're coming from North America I might add that you are legally entitled to 5 weeks of paid vacation a year. Many people get 6. That doesn't include public holidays (~11 pa). New parents have some of the best treatment in the world, you're paid to study, homelessness and crime are ridiculously low, it has one of the world's best infrastructure for cycling, etc.
There's a joke Danes make that you know you're becoming Danish when you enjoy paying your taxes. With such a well run society you can certainly see why.
You're right, the cost of living in Copenhagen is very high. Rent is among the European top 10 and food quality/price is abysmal. Then again, Berlin is a little anomalous in how cheap it is, don't you think?
Let me rephrase...you were saying €80k gross (=€40k net) is normal for a developer with 5-10 years experience. I assume that the average person is earning a lot less than a dev with 5-10 years of experience.
And €40k is already not exactly living it large in a city with much lower costs of living, I can't imagine how it would be beyond working-poor for somewhere like Copenhagen. Let alone the much lower amount that the average person in Copenhagen would earn.
Yeah, I don’t know how the average earner does it. I’ve heard the average wage is around 40k Euros a year, and AFAIK there aren’t big tax reductions for lower earners. I’ve also heard that Danes are up to their eyeballs in personal debt, so... maybe not the fairytale country in all aspects
