Country guide · United States
Moving to United States: cost of living, salaries, taxes, visas
Largest tech salaries globally; widest US-state cost variance; worldwide-income taxation that follows citizens for life.
The United States combines the world's largest pool of high-paying tech, finance, and professional-services roles with the highest healthcare-cost exposure in the developed world. Cost-of-living varies more between US cities than across most of Western Europe — NYC and San Francisco run roughly 3× the cost of mid-tier American metros.
For relocators, the tax angle is the catch: the US is one of only two countries globally that taxes citizens and permanent residents on worldwide income, regardless of where they live. Filing obligations follow you for life.
At a glance
United States relocation profile
Mundevo coverage in United States
Cost-of-living detail pages for each United States city in the catalog.
Tax and visa landscape
Headline tax model + entry-point visa overview for relocators.
- Effective income tax: 17.0%
- Social security (employee): 7.6%
- Total payroll deduction: 24.6%
- VAT: 0.0%
- Currency: USD
Effective rates assume a single salaried filer at country median wage. Special regimes (e.g. expat-favoring schemes) are not applied here — see the visa guide for those.
Visa categories, residency routes, and tax-regime context for relocators are detailed in the dedicated visa guide.
United States visa guide →Salary bands at New York — by role
Illustrative gross-salary bands for 6 senior IC roles in New York. Derived from NYC anchor × United States pay-tier multiplier. Cross-check Levels.fyi, Glassdoor before negotiating.
| Role | P25 | P50 | P75 | NYC anchor (P50) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Software engineer | $145,000 | $180,000 | $230,000 | $180,000 |
| Product manager | $150,000 | $195,000 | $260,000 | $195,000 |
| UX / product designer | $110,000 | $145,000 | $195,000 | $145,000 |
| Marketing manager | $95,000 | $130,000 | $175,000 | $130,000 |
| Data scientist | $135,000 | $175,000 | $230,000 | $175,000 |
| Finance analyst | $110,000 | $155,000 | $220,000 | $155,000 |
Top relocation corridors
Closest peers by cost-of-living index — the moves most commonly considered alongside United States.