If you had the chance to move to the USA right now, would you?

[HiddenGiraffes]

Context is it's a major city we've lived in before and liked, and we're currently in London, and like the area we live too. Some family in both countries.

I'm just curious if, given the opportunity to get out of the UK right now, people would consider the US a superior alternative.

No way in hell.
If you think Scotland is bad - at least the women of Glasgow were able to rally and show Nicola Sturgeon what they think of her policies that allow male rapists into women’s prisons (among other things). Biden is just as in thrall to the woman-hating ideology of gender identity and the US seems to be going to hell in a handcart with lack of access to abortion, the destruction of women’s sport, fentanyl addiction spreading across the States, guns in schools…

When I was growing up I’d have loved to live in America. Now, no way.
(ps I don’t know how bad the fentanyl situation really is as I’ve only read about it in the media in the UK)

Absolutely not.

only to Florida or Texas. the rest - probably nope.

I know quite a few people who moved to the US and have been surprised at how different culturally it is from UK. (not better or worse, just not the same). Some have embraced it and love it. Some continue to feel on the outside and end up with friends who are mostly not originally from US themselves, some end up moving back to UK

I was born in the U.K. but have never ever felt at home here.

I find it interesting what you say about people feeling on the outside and ending up with friends who are not originally from the country.

I have always had this feeling. Even within my own family who embraced the U.K.
I can’t think of a single person I have been friends with over the years who is from the U.K.

That “at home” feeling hit me out of the blue one night as a gunfight between police and armed robbers was playing out beneath my hotel window and on the tv news.
From the first day of the holiday I had felt I could actually live in the US and had started to look at houses, the supermarket and job market if I could persuade Dh to move their.
But whilst Dh was screaming at me to come away from the windows I just got this feeling that said I was home.
I had never had this before and never had anything close to it in the U.K. ever..

I would be on the first flight out of here.

Yeah I'd move there in a flash, but I'd move to most places given the opportunity. I never really wanted to come to the UK and although I do like it here I'd live anywhere warmer

Oh please don’t bother, let them carry on with their false stereotypes. We also don’t want them knowing that Australians don’t ride spiders to work lol.

No chance. I have an lgbt child.

I’d love it if single but I couldn’t send kids to school there because of the gun issue

Kennykenkencat

I am UK born and bred, but I have spent a lot of time living overseas. Even as a child I felt most comfortable in multi national communities.

I can settle fine in an 'all british' community, but I am so much happier in a mixed community and I feel so much more at home.

I have had that 'at home' feeling in several places, I have lived in 5 countries and reckon I had it in 3 of them. Definitely not in the other two. One of the places I did NOT feel at home was Holland. My dh is Dutch, and I felt like a fish out of water the whole time. I would be willing to try again if he wanted to move back, but not to the town we were in which was very white Dutch, I would wnat a more international community.

It is a feeling that it hard to describe. I think that those cultural differences are why most people cannot imagine living somewhere else. And the thing is that most of the cultural things we are not even aware of them, they are just there as part of who we are.

'No you really don't. All over 65s either have retirement healthcare packages or are covered under Medicare. There is SO much false info on the US out there.'

Yes, because the US healthcare system famously looks after everyone equally, regardless of insurance, military service, age... Medicare is sooooo basic in many cases it's barely worth it. And all those uninsured workers working at Amazon, or in the gig economy or at Walmart etc. actually have retirement healthcare packages? who knew.

After living in both places for years… no, there is no way on Earth I would choose the US over the UK. Despite the reports and the news, the UK is far more tolerant and respectful of race and beliefs. The medical service is accessible and free (I obviously can get top American style medical care in the uk, if I am prepared to pay as much as the American pay).

Society is far more equalitarian in the UK and I much more enjoy living in a society where success is not so widely measured on the basis of money or “perceived wealth”.

No, absolutely not. I have close family over in the USA and, judging from their experiences and comments, and what I have read about life/politics/crime/health care provision and a whole host of other issues, I would much rather stay here in the UK.

I’d rather live on Mars. The US has the death penalty, no abortion rights, piss-poor annual leave/workers’ rights, unaffordable healthcare, Donald Trump (and millions of Donald Trump voters). As Jon Sopel says, “if only they didn’t speak English” we’d treat the US much more like the foreign country it really is.

I mean, I loathe living in Brexit Britain, full of Brexit/Tory voters, but it’s still marginally better than the US.

only to Florida or Texas. the rest - probably nope.
They're the two places I would avoid!

I love the States but have not been for about 15 years and I feel it has changed so much but then I guess everywhere has. It is a huge country so it really depends where you go. If you do well and have a good job it is a great place to live loads of opportunity, BUT and it's a big one, it is very much a tale of two countries the rich and privileged do well but for the rest it is a pretty miserable place to be. Very little social support and people have to work so hard to get anything, I used to know people working two to three jobs and this was considered normal. Very little annual leave, maternity leave etc, health costs through the roof and so on. I would much prefer to live somewhere in mainland Europe such as Denmark, Germany, Spain far better quality of life

The only reasons I wouldn't is the guns and the limited support for disabled people. I'm quite well looked after here in the UK.

@HiddenGiraffes Rockville and, really almost all of Montgomery County is very nice also. I would happily live there. But then, I also like Baltimore. It has rough areas, but they can be avoided and it also has plenty of wonderful ones. The Harbour complex is fab

Until a few years ago I would have called SF my favourite American city. But the homeless problem is now pervasive, and although we are pretty fortunate economically, a dwelling we would want to live in, in a decent part of town, is now beyond us. I also did not realise SF itself has great schools, although I know that several suburban school districts in the Bay Area are amongst the nation’s finest

@LifeExperience has given you some good statistics. Please note especially that the treatment of ectopic pregnancies cannot by law be hampered by anti-abortion sentiment, and also how vanishingly small the risk of children coming to gun harm in school is. I write this from a strongly pro-choice anti-gun perspective, but I am alarmed and frankly sickened at all the misinformed anti-American prejudice on MN. The country is vast and diverse

I lived in progressive areas of America for about 15 yrs. I’ve been here for a while because DH is British. With the NHS on its knees and the Trussell Trust reporting that about 3.2% of the UK population used food banks at least three times in 2021-22, I cannot understand why the British are looking down on anyone. We are considering whether to stay here or return to America

To the PP who asked what American retirees do for healthcare: in many jobs you have the option to continue on your employer’s plan. Also if you have made enough contributions, you and your spouse are eligible for Medicare, run by the Federal and state governments for the over 65’s. Apparently it is excellent: everyone signs up, and I know a number of people who have dropped their employer insurance because they are so happy with Medicare.

DH and I always belonged to employer funded HMOs (mutualised insurance) which by law cannot discriminate based on age or health history. We always received excellent care. I love what the NHS stand for but the HMOs gave us better care, particularly preventative care

Really massive thanks to everyone who has offered advice and opinions on this thread, especially those speaking from experience. I think our mind is made up and we're going to pursue it.

The only thing really making me hesitate is my parents, but I think we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. As I said they're only early 60s and are perfectly healthy, so my kids could well be grown before it's even an issue.

Thanks again! There's been a lot of food for thought.

@HiddenGiraffes - I’m in Bethesda/Potomac area. I think that’s where you are looking at so if you have specific questions about schools, property taxes etc then feel free to DM and will answer what I can.

Goodluck with the move. People really shouldn’t come to MN if they want unbiased advise on the US, all you get is biased stereotypical statements from people who don’t really know what they are talking about.

The US is not perfect in any way but it has Irs pros as any other country and there are many people who will succeed and thrive in the US same as the UK, but MN go overboard with the negativity.

The answer to that for me would be not now, and not ever.
I think the US has has its glory days and it'll all be downhill from here.

@HiddenGiraffes

i handed my green card back. The USA in a lot of places is extremely racist and right wing.

please choose location clarefully.
you don’t know how different it is until you live there.

i travelled there for years on business but living there is very different indeed .

so I would not go there to live again.
man’s just turned down a job there for that reason.

Good god no way on Earth ... unless it was Hawaii and I had a great laying secure job and I was very rich!

No, I wouldn’t. I don’t dislike Americans. On the contrary. The literature department at my (British) university was run by wonderful old American professors, and I much preferred them to the British lecturers (even though I’m British myself). In general, I’m quite uncomfortable around just Brits. I prefer a workplace (or book group, or whatever) to be diluted by Americans, Canadians, Australians, Dutch, Spanish, etc. In fact, American anglophiles, especially the highly educated, literary type, are some of my favourite people in the whole world.

That said, we tend to overestimate how much we have in common. The US is a very different culture. Not better or worse, just different. There is a high-energy intensity to America, an edgy, paranoid, over the top feel that unnerves me. (Not that we’re perfect! No doubt they find us insular, unfriendly, emotionally repressed, etc.) It’s also a far more religious country. In the U.K., we tend to think of religious people as a bit odd. We forget that that simply isn’t the case in other places.

But the UK is approaching its glory days?