Trying to determine fair compensation across borders

Question

Before a third interview with a company, their HR representative asked what kind of compensation I would expect. If this company was in Canada where I live, I have a reasonable understanding of what kind of salary would be fair for my skills and could answer the question. However, this company is in the US, which I have no experience with.

What kind of best practices are involved in trying to determine compensation across borders, and also, comparing salaries across borders?

Edit: I would be moving to the US if I took this job.

Sorry. I can see how that wasn't clear. I would indeed be moving to the US. I'll edit the question. — HamsHroon, Jan 24 '14 at 21:57
So your question is less about figuring out the salary to ask for (see How can I determine a reasonable salary to ask for?) and more about how to determine what that salary equates to (cost of living, purchasing power, etc) in your current location, as a comparison? — jcmeloni, Jan 24 '14 at 22:41

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 24 '14 at 23:39

One useful tool may be a cost of living calculator. If you know how much you would need to accept a similar job in your own area, you can use a cost of living calculator to determine the approximate amount that would be equivalent in the target location.

A representative international calculator is Expatistan. It's a crowdsourced tool that can be used to compare the costs of basic services in many locations around the world, using current exchange rates.

Trying to determine fair compensation across borders

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