Reasons you wouldn’t move to US

[Preiu]

Dh has been offered a job in the US. The increase in salary would put us into a completely different wealth bracket but I really don’t want to move.

• fear of home invasion with guns
• school shooting - guns in general I guess
• American exceptionalism attitude annoys me
• Being away from family
• Not having Europe on doorstep

Can I ask if you have any other reasons

There actually is such a thing as wrongful termination from your job in America. Workers are protected by civil rights laws from discrimination on the basis of age, sex, race, disability, etc and there are whistleblower protection laws.

Also more workers, particularly higher level ones, have contracts that are very difficult to break - although they can be bought out. The OP’s DH may have been offered one.

I do agree that overall worker protections and the union presence are stronger in the UK

Not at all! Just that many flats in us are too small to have a washing machine so have a basement laundrette. As in Friends

I’ve lived in the US for over 15 years now and I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve seen a handgun openly carried in a public place - literally 2-3 times in 15 years.

And I’ve never seen anyone walking around with those big assault rifles slung over their shoulder apart from on videos online.

I live on a farm so we do have a shotgun and a hunting rifle - but you can have those on a farm in the UK so not much different there.

I have one friend who has a handgun because she’s an estate agent who works a very rural patch and is often alone on big properties meeting strangers in the middle of nowhere - she’s never had to use it though.

The ban on abortions

I've lived in the US for 23 years...left the UK in 2001. Never thought I would stay this long.

Things that help:

1. We live in a very educated, progressive New England state.

1. We get back to UK/Europe 3 times a year due to DH's employer.

1. Amazing travel opportunities in the US.

Things to watch out for:

1. Salaries: DH and I bring in > $200,000 pa but we are by no means "wealthy". My job lets me rub shoulders with the wealthy - it's insane!

1. Everything is very intense. Can't quite describe it but it's frantic. Activities, parking, TV, driving...on and on and on. I spend 2 summer months in the UK de-stressing. Then back at it in the Fall.

I know what you mean, I’m sure no one is dodging bullets on a constant basis. But this person stated that the gun issue wouldn’t scare them at all. in some states it’s perfectly legal for civilians to walk around with massive guns. Never mind the amount of people who have them in their houses.People simply can’t be trusted with guns. I’m sure there are many responsible gun owners but the more people that have them the more of a chance of adverse events occurring. I remember reading a story about a 16 year old black girl who was in a crash in Detroit. She was injured and walked to the nearest house for help. The person in the house shot her through the front door when she rang the doorbell. I was particularly horrified by that story. These type of incidents are not unusual over there. Nor are the stories about small children getting their hands on guns and shooting people by accident. I’m not sure I would want to live in a society where politicians and others are in denial that this is a huge problem.

Don't be ridiculous, 50,000 people were not stabbed in the UK in a year. Not even 10% of that.

In 2022/23 3,775 people were treated in hospital following "assault by a sharp object". There were only 244 murders. 244 too many, of course, but a tiny figure in a country of 67 million.

Knives and guns are not the same. Their knife crime surpasses ours per capita anyway.

A lot of people bring God into everything. Sportsmen and politicians and constant ‘ god bless America’ yet supposed to have separation of church and state. Teachers under valued and underpaid. Adverts on tv all the time, no escape. No middle ground news shows. Vast wealth differences and any attempt at re- distribution seen as evil socialism. Gerenocracy in politics and law. Very extreme weather.

In all honesty though, in a nice area in the States with a decent salary and benefits package, you'd likely be looking at a better quality of life than in the UK.

This. Lived there over a decade, it was lovely, met some wonderful people and had a great life. Regret moving back to be honest, my life was a lot easier over there.

2-3 times is probably the most I’ve ever seen a gun in real life. And those were being carried by policeman abroad. Seeing a civilian carrying a gun would be a shock to me. No one needs to go around carrying a gun in my opinion.

If you walked into a restaurant where the OP is proposing to live openly carrying a great fuck off gun, you'd be asked to leave and the police would be called. Look, I am as anti gun as they come and my vote, lobbying and protests are proof of that but it's just not true that there are loads of people wandering around with guns in the area the OP would be looking at.

I am just answering the question the op asked about reasons why I would not like to move to the US. The gun culture is the main reason. As I have stated in previous posts I am sure lots of states are perfectly safe and similar to Europe.

Teachers under valued and underpaid.

Not really. In NY where I live they average $91k per year. In Connecticut, the other state the OP mentioned, the average teacher's salary is $80k per year.

https://study.com/academy/popular/teacher-salary-by-state.html

People in the UK seem to have a lot of misinformation about the US.

My main concerns would be healthcare, safety and food standards!
We recently had a fantastic holiday in Florida but the price of healthy food (fruit, vegetables etc) was really high and a lot of things tasted weird, like the bread, I love toast for breakfast but all the bread was sugary! I couldn’t find any decent cheese either. I know these are little things but they would bother me!

You are on holiday somewhere in the US - it is extrapolating quite a lot to say "they don't recycle". I've no idea where you are, but it's certainly not true where I live (recycling collected every 2 weeks just like in London.)

Guns, no civilians have a need to own them, that's just that and it's bloody ridiculous that they do.

Healthcare, nobody should have to choose whether they can afford to pay for a lifesaving operation or not.
It's barbaric.

I wouldn't feel safe just walking around on a day out with my kids, knowing anyone could be carrying a gun and ready to snap.

The backwards attitudes to LGBTQ by some, although that definitely applies to here too.

Just a general big fat no from me.

It's the guns. I just can't get my head round the US guns thing.

Guns
Women's reproductive rights
Guns
Trump
Guns
School shootings
Guns

I've a friend of my daughter's here right now. She's been living in the states for a year and seems to have enjoyed it. I'm no fan of American stereotypes or much of its culture but their family seem to be having a nice life over there.

Irritating and illogical method of writing dates