Why every number on this site has a USD conversion next to it
Salary numbers are useless without a yardstick. €60,000, ₹60,00,000 and ¥6,000,000 sound very different and are actually fairly similar gross figures. We picked USD as the common yardstick because almost everyone — including non-Americans — has an intuition for what a US dollar buys. Here's how we do it, and what to keep in mind when you read the conversions.
We use indicative mid-market rates
The USD figure next to every local-currency amount is computed at an approximate mid-market rate that we update periodically. It is not the rate your bank gives you for a wire, your credit card uses on a foreign transaction, or your remittance app quotes after fees. Treat it the same way you'd treat a converted price tag in a travel guide — close enough to compare, never exact enough to budget against.
USD parity is not purchasing-power parity
$80,000 in Lisbon buys a meaningfully different life than $80,000 in San Francisco — even though both numbers look identical. Our USD conversions do not account for cost of living. For that, pair the take-home figure with our per-country budget planner, which scales typical expenses to local prices and then converts back. The combination gives you a much more honest answer than any single number can.
Why USD and not EUR or local currency
USD is still the default reserve currency, the language of most international compensation discussions, and the unit most non-Americans use when comparing offers across borders. Defaulting to it keeps every page comparable without forcing a euro-centric or rupee-centric view. If you'd rather think in your home currency, the local number is always the primary one — USD is the gentle annotation in brackets.
When to mistrust the USD figure
Hyperinflationary or volatile currencies (Argentine peso, Venezuelan bolívar, Lebanese pound) move faster than our rate table. We update rates periodically, not in real time. If you're in one of those jurisdictions or comparing against one, treat the USD figure as directional only and check a live rate before making decisions.