$225,000 in Los Angeles ≈ €221,574 in Amsterdam
Software engineer pay: Los Angeles vs Amsterdam
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 Los Angeles leaves about the same net cash as €221,574 in Amsterdam for this scenario, after real taxes and living costs.
- →Taxes take 29.3% of gross in Los Angeles versus 40.0% in Amsterdam.
- →The biggest non-cash swing: 5 more vacation days per year in Amsterdam (statutory).
Where each paycheck goes
Every unit of gross, split four ways. Same net cash, very different shape.
Full Breakdown
| Category | Los Angeles | Amsterdam | Swing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross salary | $225,000 | €221,574 ($252,363) | equivalent |
| Income + payroll tax | −$65,913 (29.3%) | −€88,644 (40.0%) | A touch higher |
| Housing (rent) | −$34,788 | −€26,700 | ~13% less |
| Healthcare (household) | −$4,220 | −€2,485 | ~33% less |
| Food & groceries | −$11,016 | −€8,100 | ~16% less |
| Transit | −$1,200 | −€1,200 | ~14% more |
| Discretionary | −$8,424 | −€6,480 | ~12% less |
| Travel home | −$275 | −€900 | ~273% more |
| Net cash kept | $99,164 | €87,066 | equal in real terms |
Live in either city? Flag any number that looks off.
Computed at the city-median tech-worker salary, Los Angeles (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 → ~31
- Paid parental leave10 wks → 6 wks
- Healthcare systemEmployer / private → Employer / private
These numbers use one scenario's assumptions. Plug in your own salary, family size, and lifestyle.
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Moving from Los Angeles to Amsterdam for a software engineer
$225,000 in Los Angeles requires €221,574 in Amsterdam 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 29.3% in Los Angeles to 40.0% in Amsterdam. That 10.7-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.
Both cities require private health insurance. Los Angeles runs $4,220; Amsterdam runs €2,485.
Amsterdam engineers get 20 vacation days per year. Los Angeles 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 Los Angeles 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 44% of gross there versus 39%. Housing drives most of that gap.
Childcare, healthcare, and leave roughly wash out between the two for families.
Amsterdam gives you 5 more paid days off a year, none of which shows on an offer letter.
Common questions
How much do you need to earn in Amsterdam to match a $225,000 salary in Los Angeles?
About €221,574. cityparity solves for the Amsterdam gross salary whose net cash (after taxes, housing, childcare, healthcare, and the rest) equals what you keep in Los Angeles. It's an equivalence, not a raw conversion.
Is healthcare free in Amsterdam?
Amsterdam does not have universal healthcare, so out-of-pocket costs are modeled the same way as in Los Angeles.
How much vacation and parental leave do you get in Amsterdam?
Amsterdam has about 31 paid days off a year (vacation plus public holidays) and 9 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 →