I worked there on an IT contract in the early 80's. My salary at that time was less than 2/3 of what I had made in the US, including the housing allowance, the car, and the car maintenance allowance I was given. This was enough to rent a three-bedroom house on a 1/3 acre plot, with swimming pool, travel for all of my 6 weeks of vacation each year, have a maid two days a week, go out for dinner and for drinks at least twice a week, buy a new, lighter-weight wardrobe, and save enough money to pay for an overland trip by truck for (a supposed) four months, five weeks in Europe, and five months travel in the US. Now, I'm a budget travel, and only a few of these trips involved airplanes and nice hotels. The cost of living makes a major, major difference. You could, for instance, get double a US salary to work in London and find that you can barely survive.