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?

I am always amazed when people say this kind of thing without looking at other costs. So -

• if you want to have the option to come back to the UK then presumably you will be looking at private schools. So what is the cost of that schooling.
• what will the cost of healthcare be?
• what is the cost of accommodation?
• what is the living cost there?
• how much tax will you pay from that salary?

Until you have done these basic financial calculations you have no idea how much better off financially you will actually be.

Is the extra 5K after taxes and healthcare nightmare costs? Would you be ok with the risk every day of kids being murdered at school and having drills about how to not get shot at school? The racism and right wing extremists in power there? If that’s all fine, go for it, I suppose.

I think my Texas threshold is more like $10k/month more than I currently earn. My niece is there so would be nice to see more of her. Some distant cousins, too.

Lived in Texas for best part of a decade, with 2 young kids, in one of the major cities a PP has stated to be amazing.

Did not enjoy. Witnessed more than one shooting in the middle of the day in supposedly nice areas. Had to hunker down in stationary traffic while 2 motorists shot at one another across my car cos one had cut the other up in the queue. 4 year old daughter came home from school with homework on gun safety. Health insurance ridiculously expensive and somehow whatever you needed help with, was mysteriously never covered. Kids grabbed by traffickers in my local Target store. Then neighbour got shot on our street in a random drive by (we lived in a very nice area) and I was officially done.

Not to mention rattlesnakes in the garage, tarantulas in the yard etc.

Each to their own, but I personally would never go back to live there.

My brother lives in Texas, earning an absolute fortune but he is giving it all up to move back to the UK. He hates sending his children to school every day, not knowing if they're going to come home. I know that shooting are rare but there's always that risk.

I worked in Houston for a while last year and guns, racism and Trump made me grateful that I don’t live there.

God no. Texas is pretty awful imo. Loads of far right and hideous climate. One of the worst places I’ve been to in USA.

Let's all move to Somalia then

Do you really think someone is going to shoot you in Texas the moment you leave the airport? Shootings happen but they are still rare. Texas is a very large state and America is a very large country. We are going to get more bad news from America just because of how America-centric media is and because of it having a much larger population. There are plenty of people who have never even been in the vicinity of a shooting in America.

This conversation reminds me of when Fox News was reporting about Donald Trump retweeting Katie Hopkins' Londonistan tweet and people in America were afraid to visit the UK because of the idea of what London had become.

No.

I know the US well having travelled extensively around the country and visited 26 states. It is a wonderful place to visit, but I definitely would not want to live there. I particularly would not want to live in a Blue state. Too many rednecks, too much religion, too much racism, too much anger, too many guns, too many corporations with too much power, too little society.

You need to take a lot of things into account:
First housing, then how healthcare are they paying for? Can you afford private schooling.
It is s southern state and VAST. Nothing is around the corner. Getting a pint of milk when you need may take 30 mins or more! Which town/ city are going to live in? What are the crime figures, in total, not just gun crime? How long are you going to be there? What are you leaving behind? Do ou I tend to live there permanently, do you want your kids to have US accents? Do you want to stay and him go, as a means to an end, giving you a better life here eventually?
Having said that, it is the land of opportunity! Faith is still a big part of life there and they do have southern manners!
I think you need to look at all the pros and cons, then have a honest chat with each other, there are so many things in the mix.

I don’t think I could cope with the heat & humidity in the summer.

I was in California for 3 weeks and saw a (young, black) man being pushed into the pavement and handcuffed, a huge police raid on a house with loads of cars and a helicopter and a (white, middle aged) man get tasered by the police outside a restaurant for kicking off a bit whilst wearing no shirt. That last guy spooked me a bit, when I thought about it afterwards and realised he could have had a gun. That’s the thing - anyone could.

Years ago, my mother met someone who had just come home from an expat life in Saudi, mum asked her why ?

There is need, there is greed, and there is insanity.

That would be insanity. IMO

Getting a pint of milk when you need may take 30 mins or more!

People in America tend to buy in bulk. You would be buying a gallon, not a pint. Your fridge freezer would be larger, as would your house and storage, and your food would last longer.

Just wanted to clarify that part.

I'd never in a million years want to live in Texas. It's a gun crazy place. I don't think I'd like to live in the US full stop. It's becoming more disturbing by the day.

Depends. Austin is a more progressive, "normal" (by European standards) city, with a very good university. (And Adriene of Yoga with Adriene lives there!)

Anywhere else in Texas, no way.

Healthcare, guns, Trump. It’s hard to decide which is most offputting.

Absolutely not. Never.

I agree about Austin. It is a lovely, affluent, liberal college town which feels more like Massachusetts than Texas.

It depends where.... Texas is huge. Austin is nothing like the stereotypical religious / gun-toting / redneck image that's often portrayed in the media. Houston I found to be a little strange, but ok. Never went to Dallas, so can't comment.

No way, guns and Trump supporters would put me off

You’d be better off researching data for your concerns ie crime etc than asking a group of people who don’t live there. I don’t, but my sibling does, and they have 0 of the concerns mentioned here. Texas is also huge and nonhomogenous.

From a financial point of view (ignoring the fact I’d never move to America and definitely not Texas, although I do like to dream of being a cowboy) what is the cost of living there compared to where you are now? If it’s a lot more then you might find your salary, even with $5k a month more, might not go as far as your current salary does where you are now.

That the USA is a racist shithole led by a wannabe Hitler swamp monster

And... Welcome to the United Kingdom!

I have lived in America and I much prefer living in the UK. 5k is a lot of money though, I'd maybe go for a year or two and save all the extra money. The kids would need to be home schooled though, I would worry too much otherwise.