In case anyone is curious, as of 2021, 40 of the 50 US states have a higher Human development index than France. (France was chosen because as the OP and GP note, all 50 states have a higher average income than France.)
It's intriguing. GDP per capita comparisons between the US and Europe would suggest that almost all of Europe should have a lower standard of living than the US. However, this is not the experience of people who have lived in both places, principally because one needs a greater income in the US for the same standard of living compared to most of Europe. Perhaps this reflects over-valuation of the US dollar?
As to the Human Development Index, 2021 data places 13 European countries above the US as a whole [0]. This would be more in line with the experience of people living there.
I think you may be conflating “standard of living” with “quality of life”, they are not the same thing. While I think quality of life is typically better in Europe by many metrics, there is no doubt that the standard of living in the US is commonly higher. They are not as tightly correlated as I think people assume.
EDIT: As an example, I split my time between Seattle and London. Cost of living is quite similar, but the median household income in Seattle is almost 3x London. That creates a large and very visible standard-of-living gap.
"Standard of living" would include access to education, healthcare, work-life balance, the public environment (e.g. within cities), vacation, parental leave, etc, not just material goods.
While access to material goods and size of housing is normally certainly higher in the US, education and healthcare are notably more expensive for the same quality in the US compared to North and West Europe, and the public environment of most American cities is abysmal.
edit: my personal experience is in the SF Bay Area, London & SE England, and BeNeLux.
Work life balance is much better in the United States. The salaries are much higher so anyone who wants to can save enough to quit and take a vacation whenever they want.
I mean I regularly take more vacation than most Europeans do in a year and every once in a while I've just quit for a break.
America is what you make of it. Many Americans like grinding it out. I like making a shit ton of money and enjoying my life.
Europeans are obsessed with what benefits their governments will grant them and Americans are just not wired that way. This is not unique to me in a high earning tech job. Even qualifying for free health care is not as difficult as some people think. Case in point, I accidentally signed my family up for Medicaid when I was recently laid off. I paid nothing. So many of my fellow colleagues paid their own way because the common narrative is that healthcare is not free in the us.
I was making 240k a year but because my income was zero for one month my kids got free medical and my wife and I was a hundred something a month. If I truly had earned nothing that year it would have been free for everyone. Unfortunately, my colleagues, due to the common narrative that America does not have free healthcare, chose to spend money on cobra or private marketplace insurance when it would have been free if they just applied. did I mention the state also gave me free money during my sabbatical and that finding a new job was absolutely no problem due to how hot even the bad tech economy is.
What do I realistically have to complain about? Everyone in my family, despite their job and I come has retired early and loved out their life on their own terms (all immigrants here too if that matters). I truly sympathize with those who are shackled by debt and other issues, but they are largely choice of their own doing. For any arbitrary person choosing to live in the eu or the us, the only question is who is better at finances... You or your government. If you are better than America will work out great. If your government is better. Maybe europe.
