Relocation reality check · UK · US · Canada · Australia
What is a job offer abroad really worth?
How do I honestly compare a salary in another country?
A currency converter tells you almost nothing. To compare a job offer across countries you need the real take-home after each country's tax and social security — and then the things converters completely ignore: US health insurance (which can cost a family thousands the NHS provides free), pension and superannuation differences, and cost of living. This tool brings it all together for the UK, US, Canada and Australia, computed from verified 2026 tax rules.
Verified 12 August 2026
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Information, not financial advice. Take-home is computed from verified 2026 tax and social-security rules for a single employee in each country's representative region (UK: England; US: no-state-tax basis; Canada: Ontario; Australia: national). Canada's provincial surtax and health premium are estimated. Healthcare and cost-of-living figures are indicative ranges from widely-reported averages, not precise quotes — they vary enormously by city and circumstance. FX is live/approximate. Verified 12 August 2026. How we calculate.
Why a salary converter lies to you
If you convert a $120,000 US offer to pounds, you get about £95,000 and think you've had a massive raise. But that ignores almost everything that matters. After US federal tax (and state tax, if you're not in somewhere like Texas), and FICA, your take-home is a fraction of the headline. Then comes the big one converters never show: health insurance. In the UK the NHS is free at the point of use; in the US, employer health plans commonly cost a family several thousand dollars a year in premiums alone, before deductibles and co-pays. That's money straight off your real income that a Brit simply never pays.
Then there's retirement. An Australian employer must pay 12% superannuation on top of your salary — genuinely extra money most people forget to count. A UK employer pays a minimum of 3% pension. A US 401(k) match varies wildly. These structural differences can be worth more than the headline salary gap, and they're invisible on a converter.
The honest limits of this tool
We compare what can be computed accurately: tax and social security, verified against each country's official rates. For healthcare and cost of living we show indicative ranges from widely-reported national averages — because these genuinely vary too much by city, employer and lifestyle to quote a single honest number. Toronto and rural Ontario are different worlds; so are Texas and Manhattan. Treat those parts as a starting sense of scale, then research your specific destination. We'd rather be honestly approximate than falsely precise about your life.