Cost of living: US vs UK.

InvaderGIR

InvaderGIR

InvaderGIR

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Following on from my thread here I'm wondering what the cost of living is like in the US compared to in the UK.

I know that it obviously depends on just where I were to get a placement if I was to get one in the US, but I'm looking for a general idea as to how much of a difference there is.

This won't effect my choice of going/not going to America for my placement, but it'd be interesting to know from the members that are in the US (especially the ones that have moved there...I know there are a few), as to the differences.

Earlier this was just a small thought, but I've put some more thought in to it, and I really think it could be a good idea, gaining loads of experience and improving my CV a bit more than getting a placement in the UK.

InvG
 
food, drink, clothes atc are generally much cheaper

housing is on the whole but this is, of course, area depndent
 
That would depend highly on your income. Being paid in US dollars isn't going to be as good as being paid by UK and transfering too US. Who will be paying you?
Think about it, living cost are only ever calcaulable based on your wage from said economy, i.e Living cost of africa, low. Wages very low.

Theoretical, and i suppose what you asking, is to compare average wages with average food or rent, to see if there different from our average.
So in answer to your question, i dont know, and im not helping :D
 
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Probably lower, but that depends what you earn in.

If your earning in pounds then yes it will be much cheaper, dollars an you'll be in the same boat as everyone else.
 
Killa_ken said:
Probably lower, but that depends what you earn in.

.
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yep, I think US average wages are lower than here


/edit

just found US average wage is $41,983 so it is about 20% lower than the UK, however I would say that the cost of living is more than 20% lower
 
my mate moved to texas last year. living costs are masively less. yes you do get paid less in the usa. for example i get 6.26 an hour at tesco and he gets 4.20 an hour (thats 8.40dollars) at wallmart.

his house is easily twice the size of a standard 4bed detached here, and was just over 80k pounds. now you wouldn't even get an ex council house here for that...
his 21 year old friend has a nice bunalow, 3 bedrooms, double garage (with very cool electric door) and front/back gardens and its worth 30-40k pounds.
yes its cheap but it is a relatively low thought of area (texas) and hence cheaper than the rest of the USA.
If you work in the USA you get more than you would here for the equivelent wage there. But if you go to the USA with some money (IE emmigrate there) you get a nice house, a car with a v8 and no mortgage.

i plan on going USA when i have graduated and saved some money, and I intend to buy a house outright. I will be <30years old and mortgage free. what a life:)

i bought loadsa clothes over the summer while I was in texas, levi jeans where under 40dollars!!!! Vans shoes where 50dollars. ps3s were 250quid! I bet they are even less now the price cuts have come in.
 
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I didn't word my OP well really did I?

I'd be earning in USD, as I'd have a visa to work there, and be working for a US company for a year (well, minimum of 40 weeks).

mglover070588 has basically summed up the answer to what I was asking really, the way of live and cost of everything in the US (well Texas - was looking at Texas just now for a job in fact) is equivalently lower than that of the UK. Whilst the income isn't very good at the exchange rate to that of the UK income, in America it goes further.

InvG
 
US = Cheap built houses, poor health, FBI phone taps (no phone S** for you!) and a dying economey.

Why would you want to live there?
 
Teki187 said:
US = Cheap built houses, poor health, FBI phone taps (no phone S** for you!) and a dying economey.

Why would you want to live there?
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Because I'm not a silly narrow-minded individual and I want to experience other cultures and places.

If you really have nothing worthwhile to say, don't press the reply button. Seriously.

InvG
 
It is much, much cheaper to live over here I can assure you.

In the UK both myself and my wife were working full-time and we still found ourselves falling into debt. After we moved here I was just working while my wife went back to school and we coped easily.

Our rent here is literally half of that in the UK - for a much better place.

We sat down and worked it out a while ago - our cost of living here is about 3x less than it was in the UK! We're living in an equivalent neighborhood and have pretty much identical jobs, so it's a pretty fair comparison.

It was always a struggle living in the UK - over here we have it extremely easy in comparison.
 
That's a bit harsh - US building standards are way lower than European, Americans themselves aren't as healthy and the health service also isn't as good - unless you pay, no idea about the FBI but the US economy is clearly not doing as well as it was... The biggest idiot on the forum?
 
clv101 said:
That's a bit harsh - US building standards are way lower than European, Americans themselves aren't as healthy and the health service also isn't as good - unless you pay, no idea about the FBI but the US economy is clearly not doing as well as it was... The biggest idiot on the forum?
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How do you know building standards are lower? Do you own a house here, did you cast your 'expert' eye over the building process?

The health service is better, If I want something doing, I dont get on a 5 year waiting list to be told I'm going to die in a second anyway, nor do I have to wait 5 hours in an emergency room. We have a much greater selection of drugs then the UK and health workers are actually paid a good salary.

Ok sure, we have to pay for it, but if you get a good job you get insurance anyway, an incentive to learn and get a decent job in contrast to Englands, oh hey why don't you all come over here and we'll give you a free knee, maybe some houses and a weekly paycheck while your at it.

We have a far superior justice system whereby little scrotes don't get off lightly and prisoners are treated like prisoners.

We pay fewer taxes and our gas is 3 times cheaper.

Please, do argue your side.
 
Considering your 'justice system' has the death penalty, that removes any argument that it's somehow better than the UK's sytem, but that is just my personal opinion. I do agree the US would be a lovely place to work and live in though.
 
You need to consider relative purchasing power but generally speaking yes the States has a cheaper cost of living than here but the gap is closing.

Take the Midwest for example, say Michigan. You could get a job working in hospital administration and earn $50,000 - only £25,000, not that much right? But consider this, a very nice, detached, 4/5 bedroom home with a pool and a garage in a nice part of town will cost you less than $150,000. You could pay that off in 4 years or less if you have a partner helping you.

Now, take like for like £50,000 earning here in the UK and what does that get you? Good luck buying a house with 50k salary that you can pay off in 20 years let alone 4 years.

This is simplistic i know but it somewhat demonstrates the relative cost of living between here and there. When I go there to spend a few weeks and get away from the stress of London it costs me $60 a day to rent out a condo that's about 4 times larger than my place here in London and has pretty much everything under the sun. That's £30 a day....What would £30 a day get you in London? Even a 3 sqm hotel room in travelodge here will cost you £70/day.

Of course, you would also need to consider other factors such as the majority of states and their cities do not really have a metro system or anywhere near the kind of public transport we have here in London. You really need a car to get around especially if you chose to live anywhere outside of the larger cities like New York, Boston, Dallas etc or the West coast. Even Orlando Florida doesn't have a decent public transport system and millions of people visit it every year because of Disney. And in major cities they have traffic jams just like we do. Washington DC has 8 lane motorways and you'll still be stuck in traffic for 3 hours coming and going.

On the whole though in my experience the States has a much higher quality of life than here but I don't know how much longer it's going to stay that way. The economy is weakening but still remains the largest in the world. I like the fact that when I'm there and I feel like something it's usually a 5 minute drive from anywhere, and there's no congestion and no speed cams and none of the bullcrap that exists here not to mention some truly unbelievable landscapes and scenery and some great people. Plus and this is truly something worth thinking about when you consider how hard you have to work to earn your money - the states is on a whole other level when it comes to Customer Service. Hands down they set the record.

Another place you might consider is Canada - Although I have no personal experience I have a lot of family there and they always tell me it's very cheap to live and the quality of life is excellent. They are mortified whenever they come to visit in London because they just can't understand how we afford to pay £15 for a steak for example.
 
Killa_ken said:
We have a far superior justice system whereby little scrotes don't get off lightly and prisoners are treated like prisoners.
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I've studied and am studying the US legal system (in comparative courses) and the only conclusion I can ever come to about it is that it is a broken implementation of what the UK laws used to be that have been meddled with in ways that show an inconsistent understanding of what they're actually doing. Their laws are a slapdash mix of archaic acts and popularist legislation created due to something that's been on the news - how many countries have laws actually named after people?
 
^^^LOL

Well he does have a point, generally cost of living in N America ie Canada and USA is hell of a lot cheaper than it is here and that is FACT. Fair enough you have to pay for health insurance over there but tbh its much better than the NHS which is falling apart. Canada on the other hand has its own national health service and its much much better than it is here in the UK.

Salary wise??, depends on what job your doing but usually they are lower than here but as its been said the standard of living is much much cheaper there than it is here.

House wise??, the houses over in Canada/USA are bigger than they are here. I just recently had a 5 bedroom house built in Canada for me, cost me £300k which works out to just over $600k Can dollars..gas, electricity and water are all cheaper than they are. Petrol again is cheap as chips compared to here as well.

So the fact of the matter is that when it comes to standard of living....USA is cheaper than here..in fact its cheaper than Canada in some respects. I have a childhood friend who lives in Phoenix Ariz and hes just recently bought a 6700sq ft house for $3million dollars :eek:....6700sq ft??...thats huge...try and find a house here thats 6700sq ft for $3mill:p...highly unlikely you will find one.
 
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