- Living in a better piece of a real estate. A 100m² condominium flat of equal quality to ones you can get in tier 1 cities in China costs $5-8k a month in US, and 2-3 times less in China.
For the price of a luxury rental in US best cities, you can afford to live in a serviced apartment pretty much permanently here https://www.trip.com/hotels/cityname-hotel-detail-29859506/xianglai-executive-apartment https://www.trip.com/hotels/Shenzhen-hotel-detail-22822415/ But if you want to buy... that's another story.
- Driving a better car. On the cost-quality ratio, local high-end market sedans give you Benz E-Class experience at only $20-30k. You can't find anything like that in US. And yeah, Buick sucks, I have no idea why locals obsess so much over them.
- Can eat out every day. Real restaurant quality food in US is what I can afford here every day.
- Medical and other insurance that beat anything USA has on the table 20 times over. It's not as cheap as in Europe, and Chinese medical services far from the best, but still.
A maxed out serious illness coverage including oncology for 50+ person here costs $500-$700 a month for somebody with good financial history, and is going down. Totally affordable if you saved as a high incomer your entire life.
For $100-200 a month, you can have coverage for pretty much anything you can get as a healthy person under 40.
- Travel and recreation that is simply not there in US. All of SE Asia is within 6-7 hours of flight.
- Electronic gizmos that are cheap like dirt
- Just any imaginable non-perishable goods that is considered "high-end" in US cost less here, largely thanks to Taobao
- Life in a good city is priceless! Find me anything approaching Shenzhen in US! Architecture, infrastructure, social facilities, recreation, greenery, transport, culture and social dynamics here are outstanding. San Francisom is a city sized dumpster fire, and a total hillbilly town in comparison... SF must be levelled to the ground and rebuilt from scratch to fix it. The only cities in North America that are somehow passable for me are Vancouver, and Miami, and they will still be light years away from SZ.
I meant individual incomes.
To be quite objective, life in the US and China are just very different with different pros and cons.
Objectively, the life of the average citizen in the US is much more materially comfortable. The living spaces are much larger, you can easily live in a house with a large yard, most families have two or more cars, life isn't as stressful.
Chinese cities have made amazing progress in the past few years however with building up their infrastructure. However, most people who live in these cities still live in high rises and that can end up being stifling. Of course, Mainland Chinese cities are a lot more modern and have more living space than say, Hong Kong which is a veritable shithole. But still, in comparison to the American suburban life, it's way more cramped and most families would only have one car if they have a car at all.
Of course, the public infrastructure in China beats the hell out of the US by lightyears, there is just no comparison. American public infrastructure is a joke. Subways are old and decaying if the city you live in even has a subway. Outside of NYC, San Francisco, Chicago, DC, Boston, most US cities lack a strong metro system and even in those cities that have it, it's a depressing experience with the grime and crime. But again, the US is nowhere as dense as China so most people can just drive in the comfort of their SUV and get to where they need to.
Life in China is definitely more interesting as there is always something to do and great historic, cultural sites and urban vibrancy are all a short high speed rail line away. Life in the US can end up feeling kind of isolated and dull in that respect.
