Lets take an example, with a yearly salary of £100,000 / $122,247 / €109,654... (all same amount)
In the UK you would take home £66,533 / $89,412 / €73,088. (£2k less if you are in Scotland due to 1% higher tax rate)
In Germany, you would take home £52,911 / €58,117 / $71,102.
In Austin TX, you would take home £68,704 / €75,451 / $92,330
In California, you would take home £62,600 / €68,748 / $84,127.
Location really matters for salary and living in Austin for example nets you £15793 more a year as a stark contrast to Germany but comparing Cali to UK is less impressive with the same salary. But avg Cali devs salaries are a lot higher ($131,425 [0] vs $57,930 [1])
As for the question, in my opinion the glass ceiling for software developer is just much lower in European countries and people will try to defend their European country with very valid healthcare arguments and having more rights with holidays and such. If I could I would move over to America in a heartbeat due to many factors from products being much cheaper, being the forefront of tech, culture, lower average taxes across the country and about double the average software developer salary from a UK perspective to me.
Side note but... Earning £6k (net) less a year due to taxes can be the difference of £159,405 over 15 years in a index fund at 7% depositing £500 a month (6k a year).
I used https://salaryaftertax.com/ for the salaries feel free to correct me if I'm wrong in any of the locations.
[0] https://www.indeed.com/career/software-engineer/salaries/CA
[1] https://www.indeed.co.uk/career/software-engineer/salaries/E...