There is a geographic disparity in how tech workers are valued. Might consider working remote for a US company that'll bring your wage up above what your local tech economy will provide for.
As a sibling comment points out, health insurance and child care consume quite a bit of a wage in the US (our employer portion is $20k/year alone for a family of four; childcare is easily $1k/per child/per month for 2 days a week of care). My wife is giving birth tomorrow to our second child, and we're prepared for a bill anywhere between $5k-10k all-in, even with a quality insurance plan at my company.
To your question: "How do you even get to do that?" You ask. My current enterprise job was not offered as remote. It was advertised as an in-office job. When the job was offered to me, I asked if I could work remote. Due to how hard hiring is for my role, I was told it'd be no problem (and I had other offers; lesson for another thread, "always negotiate from a position of power").
The below resources come to mind as places to start (no affiliation).
I’ve worked at many US companies where we had remote workers in other countries. In fact I’d say it was more common than not. Typically they were employees of the local country or region office though from a legal perspective so I doubt they were able to pull a “domestic” salary.
I've thought about working remote but I've heard that unless the company is geared towards making the playing field even for remote/onsite workers you'll be having an hard time getting noticed/pulled into projects.
Might be something I'll look into if nothing I can find in the EU satisfies me.
Don't give up! There are opportunities out there. Contact companies you're interested in who don't have open positions listed and communicate your interest. Despite what the echo chamber will tell you, it's still all about networking and who you know that gets you the job, rarely merit.
As a sibling comment points out, health insurance and child care consume quite a bit of a wage in the US (our employer portion is $20k/year alone for a family of four; childcare is easily $1k/per child/per month for 2 days a week of care). My wife is giving birth tomorrow to our second child, and we're prepared for a bill anywhere between $5k-10k all-in, even with a quality insurance plan at my company.