Yes, this is correct. The fees for everything in the US, and the higher prices for lower quality service make living better on a "lower salary" reality in the EU (at least in Austria where I live).

I put "lower salary" in quotes because your taxes here go for (among other things, cheap and good public transport - road and rail, airport maintenance and expansion, road maintenance, cheap and good subsidized housing, free college tuition/trade school). We also have real competition in areas like internet and phones.

In sum we pay way less monthly for living nicely (not extravagantly!) than in the US, which is why median wealth is higher here, even if "on paper" salaries are lower.

One anecdotal example: My son and my wife went to university at the same time. We needed zero financial planning for this, nor did we have to change anything in our budget. She got her BSc, he is getting a masters. How many hundreds of thousands did this save me out of pocket? I know I paid part of it up front with my taxes the last couple of decades, but the cost is much cheaper when spread out over the entire populace.