>I may not have a solid understand, but are we truly "rich" here? The wages may be significantly higher here, but isn't the cost of living also? Are there any charts, I wonder, that show the disparity in a balanced way?

Cost of the food is the same all over the world according my observations.
Cost of equipment, fuel and cars, too.
But housing vary.
If we like to keep the same standard of living - salaries will vary slightly.
In less develop countries people have not access to many of the items which we regularly use