$225,000 in Chicago ≈ €255,048 in Ljubljana
Software engineer pay: Chicago vs Ljubljana
Equivalence is solved so household net cash matches across both cities, with taxes, housing, childcare, healthcare, food, and travel all included.
The bottom line
- →$225,000 in Chicago leaves about the same net cash as €255,048 in Ljubljana for this scenario, after real taxes and living costs.
- →Taxes take 27.2% of gross in Chicago versus 49.6% in Ljubljana.
- →The biggest non-cash swing: 5 more vacation days per year in Ljubljana (statutory).
Where each paycheck goes
Every unit of gross, split four ways. Same net cash, very different shape.
Full Breakdown
| Category | Chicago | Ljubljana | Swing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross salary | $225,000 | €255,048 ($291,484) | equivalent |
| Income + payroll tax | −$61,262 (27.2%) | −€126,459 (49.6%) | a touch higher |
| Housing (rent) | −$26,676 | −€13,800 | ~41% less |
| Healthcare (household) | −$3,830 | −€886 | universal |
| Food & groceries | −$11,178 | −€7,776 | ~20% less |
| Transit | −$900 | −€444 | ~44% less |
| Discretionary | −$7,047 | −€5,130 | ~17% less |
| Travel home | −$275 | −€950 | ~295% more |
| Net cash kept | $113,832 | €99,603 | equal in real terms |
Live in either city? Flag any number that looks off.
Computed at the city-median tech-worker salary, Chicago (a senior software engineer). Each figure is in the city's local currency, from the same engine as the calculator; sources are cited per row there.
What changes beyond the money
- Statutory vacation days~15 → ~20
- Total paid days off~26 → ~33
- Paid parental leave0 wks → 63 wks
- Healthcare systemEmployer / private → Universal
These numbers use one scenario's assumptions. Plug in your own salary, family size, and lifestyle.
Open the interactive calculator to run your own →No signup. Your salary stays in your browser, and we never see it.
An interactive calculator, set to this comparison to start. Paste it where you want the widget, and keep the link under it in place; it is what keeps the widget free to use.
Moving from Chicago to Ljubljana for a software engineer
$225,000 in Chicago requires €255,048 in Ljubljana to match on household net cash. The gap is real, but it is smaller than the nominal numbers suggest once taxes run their course. Progressive brackets compress the after-tax difference faster than a compensation benchmarking site would lead you to believe, because those sites show gross and stop there.
The effective tax rate goes from 27.2% in Chicago to 49.6% in Ljubljana. That 22.4-point jump is what the equivalence solver is working against when it finds the matching gross salary.
Unvested equity changes this calculation entirely. RSU value is not modeled in the defaults above, but if you are mid-cycle at your current employer, leaving means forfeiting grants you have already been working toward, and that difference can be larger than the annual take-home delta that drove the comparison in the first place. The Advanced section's "RSU / stock annual value" field is where you plug that number in. Equity-heavy comp favors lower-tax cities at vesting; the after-tax discount gets larger the bigger the grant.
On an employer plan the healthy years feel nearly free; it's the bad year that finds the gap. Ljubljana is universal, so most of that tail risk goes away. Chicago still runs $3,830 a year in premiums and out-of-pocket costs, and none of it shows up on an offer letter.
Ljubljana engineers get 20 vacation days per year. Chicago averages 15. That 5-day gap is real money at a senior IC's daily rate, and it does not show up on the offer letter.
No kids, employer healthcare, and a single high-bracket income: this is the configuration that makes Chicago look best in a head-to-head comparison. It is also the configuration most likely to change. The family scenario page (linked below) models what shifts once childcare and a second earner enter the picture.
Who comes out ahead
You keep 51% of gross there versus 39%. Housing drives most of that gap.
You also get universal healthcare and more paid leave on top of the money math in Ljubljana. Run the family scenario to see it.
Ljubljana gives you 7 more paid days off a year and 63 more weeks of paid leave, none of which shows on an offer letter.
Common questions
How much do you need to earn in Ljubljana to match a $225,000 salary in Chicago?
About €255,048. cityparity solves for the Ljubljana gross salary whose net cash (after taxes, housing, childcare, healthcare, and the rest) equals what you keep in Chicago. It's an equivalence, not a raw conversion.
Is healthcare free in Ljubljana?
Ljubljana has universal healthcare, so there are no US-style premiums or large deductibles. cityparity counts that as real money you don't spend, which is part of why the equivalent salary is lower than the raw number suggests.
How much vacation and parental leave do you get in Ljubljana?
Ljubljana has about 33 paid days off a year (vacation plus public holidays) and 63 weeks of parental leave. cityparity surfaces these as deltas rather than dollars, because time off is part of the real comparison.
Run your own numbers in the interactive calculator →