Would you move to Texas for USD 5k more a month

[Constance17]

DH has been offered a job in U.S, we have children aged 6 & 8. What concerns you most?

For those wanting to check out the US real estate market, I suggest looking at trulia.com or redfin.com over Zillow. Those sites are like Rightmove. Zillow shows the estimated value of a house based on a combination of factors and can be wildly off the mark.

As far as taxes:
Federal Income Tax:goes to federal govt to fund it, figured by percentage bracket based on your income.
State Income Tax: goes to the individual state of residence and funds the state coffers. Also income based but the brackets can be different than federal tax brackets. Not all states have State Income tax.
Local Income Tax These are taxes levied by a county or city. Frankly, I don't know how these are determined because there are none where I live!
Property Tax Tax on your home(s) levied by the county in which you live, but normally capped by state law. Use is determined by the county. Where I live most of it goes to education. Amounts can vary widely by state to state. We pay around $2000 per year. My sister in Nebraska pays twice that for a similar property.
Sales Tax Similar (I assume) to your VAT. Tax assessed on most (but not all) goods at point of sale. Each state assesses it's own amount. Counties and cities can also levy sales taxes. If I shop at my local mall I pay 7.25%. If I shop next town over I pay up to 8.25%.

I stated it up thread. I wouldn't live in Texas for a mint. Not because of fear of violence or the weather. But because of the Texas mind-set. This isn't just a 'red state' thing. It's a 'Don't mess with Texas' arrogance & superiority that I've seen in liberal and conservative alike. A dear friend lives in Texas and my brother spent 2 years there so I've visited quite a lot. To quote my Georgian BFF "Texans...bless their hearts!". 'Nuff said.

The difference between suing in the U.K. (under either the England&Wales, N Irish or Scottish system) and the US is not necessarily the volume of claims it is that in the US the awards of damages are much, much higher because they are decided by juries and a good lawyer can tug on the heartstrings. US law also allows punitive damages in more circumstances than the U.K. legal systems.

A civil claim in the UK would be decided by a single judge and damages are more or less restricted to the minimum needed to put you in the position you would have been in but for the “wrong” you have suffered. There is no emotional element and damages are much more modest.
With that in mind the US no win no fee clutter is much higher stakes than the U.K. one.

Our property tax is nearly $5000! (For a 4 bed, 4000 square foot, 5 acre property.) We pay quite a bit less sales tax and no local income tax though.

I never have to worry a police office will
kill my child here. 🤷🏽‍♀️

Sheku Bayoh in Kirkcaldy. He was someone's child. Someone's father, too.

I never have to worry a police office will kill my child here.

We have our policeman over for dinner and give him eggs. He drives to our house twice a day to check it when we're away. He's pretty unlikely to kill ds.

not Texas, no. probably not many places in america. there is more to life than money and if they want to pay him that he'll have other opportunities.

The constant and real threat of being sued by individuals and companies is immense and shocking when you come from a country like U.K. that doesn’t allow you to sue for tens of thousands for emotional distress

Blimey. What vivid imaginations some people have.

That's funny, I wouldn't live in Georgia for a mint myself. Charles Frazier put it best: 'If I had a brother in jail and a brother in Georgia, I'd bust the one out of Georgia first.' Or California. Or New York City. Or Florida. Or most of the Midwest (the weather being a big factor, not the people).

Horses for courses.

Lovely to see so much American-bashing and bashing a state with 29m people in it as entirely racist, ignorant, violent, burning hot all year round, entirely shitty schools, etc. MN, so open-minded.

To be fair Mumsnet have deleted the posts I've reported. But a lot of British people are not covering themselves on glory and looking pretty uninformed, xenophobic and ignorant on this thread.

Have an argument with another parent in a park? Good chance you might get told you’ll be hearing from their lawyer.

Whoa Nelly!

(Actually, come to think of it, and hand on heart, I have never heard anyone arguing in a park. People tend to be very civil here. Polite, friendly, no chips on shoulders, well brought up and socialised. It must be thanks to all the poor parenting.)

No. My American friend didn't move back to America after having kids because of the gun crime.

I prefer our healthcare system to their insurance system.

I think people are getting their knowledge of the US mainly from FICTIONAL tv shows and films. Glad Dh wasn't upset the UK wasn't like Corrie or Mr Bean.

I speak as someone who has visited Texas, and my BIL has just returned from living in Houston for ~5years. i also watch the news.

@MerryDeath watching the British news would put me off ever coming back let alone moving back.

I've visited Skegness because one of my cousins lives there. Some parts of it were not the nicest, so shall I just assume everyone and everything in Lincolnshire is shit, Merry, or like a mature adult realise that every place has its highs and lows and two peoples' experience of a place does not an entire place make?

But a lot of British people are not covering themselves on glory and looking pretty uninformed, xenophobic and ignorant on this thread.

I've been surprised it's that bad too, tbh, but what surprises me more is that they don't believe the expat Brits living in the US on this thread when they're offered any information that conflicts with their beliefs and views.

I'm sadly not surprised, Miss. A whole lot of people, including some expats (not math, waves at her ) are also very judgemental and generalising towards other states outside their own experience. I've been lucky enough to visit quite a few states in the Lower 48 (as well as Alaska), lived in 4, and whilst I probably would not want to live in some of the states I visited, it would be pretty immature, snobby and narrow-minded to state they're shitholes, everyone there is racist/negative/uneducated/all one race, religious zealots (and in this I include Utah, the main gripe I have about that state are the liquor laws, but hey, I don't have to live there), all shit schools, etc.

It's a negative and shocking thread and some of the posts are nigh on ridiculous, especially given the complete shower of shite that Brexit and Boris Johnson/the economy are currently (the pound has fallen against the USD and the Euro AGAIN today).

If there is one thing I really like about the majority of the American people I've met, it's that they are a mostly a very positive people.

@timshelthechoice Jesus fucking Christ. Do t talk to me about Utah! 😂

Went there for my 40th. Took two days to get there, got to hotel, ahhhhhhh, bliss. So stressed. DH, go get me a glass of wine please. No wine at hotel. Sunday. No fucking wine ANYWHERE!!

Finally found one restaurant (with appalling food) that served Margaritas and I nearly cried.

Amazing place though. We stayed in an amazing tent (with queen beds, shower, toilet and wood stove) in the Moab desert. Not a fan of Arches. I had a panic attack up by the big arch because dh took ds out there and everyone was pointing and saying 'oh no there's a child out there'. Googled it and people had fallen and died there every year.

obviously every place has it's good and bad points that's my answer to OP and it is not an uninformed opinion. i don't like greedy american consumerism which is a huge aspect of my experiences in Texas and the US generally. i don't like the firearms legislation, i don't like racism, i don't like privatised healthcare, i don't like pro-life bullies, i don't like Tr*mp. i don't like Boris, Brexit etc either but i already live here thus have other reasons to stay here.. I'm not here just for the cash!

Greedy American consumerism??!

Not where I live. People live pretty frugally. We use bartering for a lot of goods/trades.

Ironically I read this BBC article about how Brits are the biggest shoppers in the whole of Europe. Mostly cheaply made fashion (terrible for the environment and abusive to the workforce) just yesterday. The real price of buying cheap clothes www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-49248921

DH and US friends and family are always shocked at how much STUFF my British family and friends have.

I haven't been back to this thread for a while but saw a comment regarding how it's "easier" to get into US universities. Of course this is all relative and depends on your qualifications and which universities you are talking about. Once again, it is a distortion to compare a country like the UK that is about the equivalent of California in size, with the entire USA with its vast differences in geography, society, racial and ethnic makeup and history. For example the Southern states of Alabama and Mississippi will be annually at or near the bottom of educational results tables. However we clearly have to take into account the history of those states and the fact that economically they are some of the poorest in the nation. If you look at a state like Massachusetts 50.9% of the adult population has at least an undergraduate degree. When taken individually from the US and compared with other nations Massachusetts has one of the best educational systems in the world and a number of states can say the same.

Even Utah, a state with a very high Mormon population has a college educated population of 44.1% and is ranked overall in education in the top ten. Virginia, Iowa, New Jersey, Washington all these states are highly rated.

My own state has a college educated population of 45.6%. My eldest daughter just got into our flagship State University. It may appear to be "easy" to get into as the overall rate of acceptance is 45%. However students won't bother applying unless they have an overall grade of 3.85 (a 4 being perfect) which is in all their subjects in all 4 years of high school and equivalent to an A-/A. So my dd had to have straight As in math and German as well as all her arts and science subjects plus APs (college level courses). Some majors are extremely competitive and if you don't get accepted when you initially apply (straight to major) the university recommends you go elsewhere as it's extremely unlikely you can transfer into the major later. That includes: computer science, engineering and business (medicine is studied at grad level in the US and the uni has one of the best med schools in the country).

And how many students do they accept each year? 5,000. Yep 5k students in a state with a population less than London. Most come from within the state but about 30% are international students or out of state who pay 50k a year to attend. For in-state students it is 11.5k a year (currently about 9.4k sterling). The uni is ranked as one of the best in the world but probably most Brits have never heard of it.

I think Brits need to remember there are 50 states in the US. The US is still the biggest economy in the world. Also, if Brexit happens, with the fall in the pound I think you'll be seeing a lot more Americans in the UK as there is talk of Sterling reaching parity with the Dollar.

I said it was easier because British students can get in with lower level of qualifications than British universities.

@catofdoom not in my house or family!

I said it was easier because British students can get in with lower level of qualifications than British universities.

This is because some universities just want the money from international students, which is the same in the UK. It will be a lot harder for a British student to get in to Harvard than the Open University, so again, generalisations can't be made.