Compare salaries, city by city.
Live medians from Adzuna for the highest-search city pairs in English-speaking markets — London vs New York, SF vs Seattle, Toronto vs Vancouver, and the rest of the comparisons people actually run.
City pairs
London vs New York
The two largest English-speaking finance and tech hubs — different tax, different equity culture, very different take-home.
London vs San Francisco
London's salary ceiling is roughly half of San Francisco's — but cost-of-living and equity culture compress the real-take-home gap more than people expect.
London vs Dublin
Dublin's EMEA HQ tax structure can put a senior engineer's net pay above London's gross — depending on company comp model.
London vs Singapore
Singapore's tech market pays senior cash salaries close to London's — with materially lower personal tax for most income bands.
London vs Toronto
Toronto pays in CAD; London in GBP. The headline numbers look similar; the FX-and-tax adjusted numbers don't.
London vs Sydney
Sydney's tech market pays close to London's senior bands — with a stronger leisure-economy lifestyle premium.
New York vs San Francisco
NYC pays cash; SF pays equity. Total comp is closer than the headline cash numbers suggest.
San Francisco vs Seattle
Seattle's cash base trails SF by 5–10% — Washington state's no-income-tax structure typically equalises take-home.
San Francisco vs Austin
Austin tech salaries sit ~15-20% below SF — Texas tax structure equalises take-home for most professionals.
New York vs Boston
NYC leads in finance-adjacent tech; Boston leads in biotech and academic-spinout work. Salaries diverge by sector, not by city.
New York vs Miami
Miami's no-state-income-tax structure has pulled finance and crypto talent south; gross salaries trail NYC but net pay often beats it.
San Francisco vs Los Angeles
LA's tech market pays ~10% below SF for engineering; entertainment-tech and gaming employers close the gap at the senior end.
New York vs Chicago
Chicago's finance-adjacent tech market trails NYC by ~15% on cash but cost-of-living gap closes the take-home math.
Seattle vs Austin
Two of the strongest US 'second-tier' tech hubs. Seattle leads on senior tech depth; Austin leads on tax-adjusted take-home.
Toronto vs Vancouver
Toronto leads on finance and senior tech depth; Vancouver leads on creative and gaming clusters and (much) more expensive housing.
Toronto vs New York
Toronto salaries trail NYC by 25-40% in CAD — cross-border remote work has narrowed that gap significantly since 2022.
Toronto vs Montreal
Toronto pays 10-15% above Montreal for tech — Montreal balances with cheaper rent and a deeper AI research scene.
London vs Manchester
Manchester pays 25-35% below London for the same role — cost-of-living gap typically equalises real take-home for mid-level professionals.
London vs Edinburgh
Edinburgh's senior tech and fintech market sits 20-30% below London — Scotland's tax thresholds matter at the senior end.
London vs Bristol
Bristol pays ~25% below London for tech and product roles — strong defence, aerospace and creative-tech specialism premium.
London vs Cambridge
Cambridge tech and ML roles sit ~20% below London average — life sciences and academic-spinout senior bands match or exceed London.
Manchester vs Leeds
The two largest northern UK tech hubs — Manchester wins on engineering depth, Leeds on financial services density.
Sydney vs Melbourne
Sydney leads on finance and finance-adjacent tech; Melbourne leads on creative and consumer-tech roles. Salaries cluster close.
Remote UK vs London
UK remote roles increasingly pay national medians 5-15% below London-onsite rates — tax and commute economics often beat London on net basis.
Remote US vs San Francisco
Remote US roles split between zone-based and national-median pay models — both trail SF onsite cash but compete on cost-of-living-adjusted take-home.
Roles covered