London vs Austin: where does a qa engineer save more?

Best for saving: Austin โ€” about $4,273/mo after taxes and living costs.

London
UK
Austin
US
โ˜… Best for saving
Median salary$104,831$114,009
Take-home / mo$5,802$7,183
Income tax~34%~24%
Living costs / mo$3,747$2,910
Savings / mo$2,055$4,273
Savings rate35%59%
VerdictExcellentExcellent

Single professional, after-tax. "Savings" = take-home โˆ’ a baseline cost of living. A planning estimate, not financial advice.

How we calculated this

โ€ข Salary: BLS/OECD median for a qa engineer, adjusted per city.

โ€ข Tax: each country's single-filer effective rate (e.g. UK ~34%, US ~24%).

โ€ข Living costs: a single professional's baseline monthly budget per city.

Estimates, not financial or tax advice. Updated 2026.