To be a bit envious of this lifestyle? (USA)

[ThePinkPonyClub]

I've just watched School Swap: UK to USA on Channel 4 and have ended up feeling a teensy bit jealous of the kind of lifestyle that's possible over there.

Even normal, non wealthy families seemed to be able to live really outdoorsy lifestyles where they can hike and hunt and boat amongst the gorgeous scenery. I feel like in the UK, even rurally it isn't possible as everywhere is so densely populated especially when the weather is nice. The weather is also a limiting factor!

I'm obviously not jealous of the MAGA/Trump craziness or the crappy healthcare and all the rest of the political stuff but purely the lifestyle side of things, it seems so much more possible to live in that free, outdoorsy kind of way.

And the schools seemed to have a much more positive, enthusiastic culture with things like school sports and dances, compared to the UK teens in their drab uniforms staring at their phones the whole time in their miserable, run down secondary school.

aibu? Anyone live this kind of life in the UK? If so, where?!

The statistics are dire for the US. let's look a little wider at other poverty indicators - DRDs for example:
https://www.commonwealthfund.org/blog/2025/us-overdose-deaths-remain-higher-other-countries-trend-tracking-and-harm-reduction#:~:text=Our%20analysis%2C%20using%20the%20latest,overdose%20deaths%20in%20the%20world.

https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2024-10-03-us-adults-worse-health-british-counterparts-midlife

https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2023/jan/us-health-care-global-perspective-2022

@Bluebellwood129 If your links are correct, how do you explain the fact that child poverty is 2.5 times higher in the UK than the US, then? Are UK parents living the high life while keeping their children in kennels in the garden?!

One set of stats must be wrong.

To summarise:

• The U.S. has the lowest life expectancy at birth, the highest death rates for avoidable or treatable conditions, the highest maternal and infant mortality, and among the highest suicide rates.
• The U.S. has the highest rate of people with multiple chronic conditions and an obesity rate nearly twice the OECD average.
• Americans see physicians less often than people in most other countries and have among the lowest rate of practicing physicians and hospital beds per 1,000 population.

Don't go to poor areas, if you get away from tourist traps you will see how the otherside live. If you've ever been to the south you would know about the poverty in places like West Virginia or Mississipi for example
https://www.ryanjhite.com/2024/12/06/understanding-persistent-poverty-in-the-deep-south-a-historical-and-economic-analysis/

Its not at all like its portrayed in the media and glossy holiday photos, there are good and bad but the bad is far worse than anything I've experienced in the UK as many people born into poverty are never helped.

As far as cost of living is concerned, it depends where you live in USA as overall, its around 3% higher than the UK average. Housing in many cities is now well over £2000 pm rent before you think about all of the maintainance charges on an apartment in a half decent area. Do you think people in these areas live in these places, no, they live in small shacks, 7 to 8 crammed in.

https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_result.jsp?country=United+States

Poverty isn't equal around the world, I remember the Joseph Roundtree Foundation saying that children were living in poverty if they didn't have a tv in UK. Poverty to a lot of investigators is relative to what the average person has.

However, I'm lucky as I don't live in these areas when I'm out there but I'm not daft enough to deny their existence.

You need to look at the measures used in order to judge the quality of the data. Metric for relative poverty can vary widely.

Sure, there are different metrics, but a difference of 2.5 times?

I didn't mention the UK in the post you quoted??

I would try looking at a reputable source like the UNICEF report:
www.unicef.org/innocenti/media/3296/file/UNICEF-Innocenti-Report-Card-18-Child-Poverty-Amidst-Wealth-2023.pdf

Here's the graph:

The US says that 11.1% are living in poverty.
https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2024/demo/p60-283.html

The UK says that 22% of adults are living in poverty, and 18 percent are living in absolute poverty:
UK Poverty 2024: The essential guide to understanding poverty in the UK | Joseph Rowntree Foundation
www.bbc.com/news/uk-68625344

Here are the data for Europe and the US using comparable metrics from the OECD:
confrontingpoverty.org/poverty-facts-and-myths/americas-poor-are-worse-off-than-elsewhere/

I've provided enough robust evidence to support my argument and I'm going to bow out now and leave you to it.

I think it worth looking at the numbers and not just %. Uk has over 18% of children living in poverty which equates to aroun 14,500,000, USA has 16 % which is around 76,000,000. That's a lot more children living in poverty providing the metrics are the same.

Have you not checked ?

@ThisFluentBiscuit things have changed since you last worked here - hire and fire here is certainly less common than the USA. Far more protections and procedures have to be followed- thing is as I said , the US can indeed be great if everything in your life is going hunky dory, it’s when stuff goes wrong that the cracks show and the hunky dory life isn’t sustainable - watching the new series with Jon Hamm - friends and neighbours- ( rather excellent) and it shows exactly this situation and the downwards spiral in a country that has very limited social protections- now the UK isn’t great on this either but it certainly has more than the US- you don’t panic about being covered on health, we have a range of benefits that help with periods of unemployment or disability including housing support if you rent -in many areas you can get by without a car just fine if you need to at any point , we have subsidised childcare at certain age points - ( not cheap childcare and not for very young children) but comes in damn handy once your child gets to 3 ( and soon to be before that ) - I was astounded when my US friend told me what her kindergarten was costing for a 4 year old and she could no longer justify working as her ‘commission’ had dropped considerably -so for 18 months they had to go down to 1 income. It has some great life style bonuses but unless you are on pretty big money it really isn’t the land of milk and honey for everyone- especially if anything in life goes wrong - and you don’t have big family financial support

Sorry, but it's not that robust.

The Confronting Poverty link says that the measure used is households that have one half or less the income of the average median household.

The average median household income is so high in the States that of course it looks like the poverty rate is crazy high here, by that measure! You're deemed to be in poverty if you have a household income of $40,000, ffs!

Average median household income in the UK: 30,800 pounds ($39,570 today)
Average median household income in the US: 80,000 dollars

The median income in the US is exactly twice that of the UK, but the US has far more poverty. Makes sense! 😂

But there are many more people in the US, so absolute numbers would be more. That's why you don't measure these things by absolute numbers - you measure by rate or percentage.

Minot?

it’s a nice town with a fair amount to do, surprisingly. And a cute little zoo (I used to drive by the camels every morning!).

The winter there is not something to underestimate or take lightly. I grew up in the twin cities so not unaccustomed to the cold but Minot was on a whole different level!

Once again, posters are treating the US as one big country where everything's the same. Each state varies widely. There are excellent safety nets and worker protections in Massachusetts, far more than in the UK. And everyone banged on about how hard it was to fire people in the UK when I worked there, which didn't seem to stop them.

That's in cities. You go 10 miles out of the city and the COL drops like a stone.

And of course I'm not daft enough to deny the existence of poverty, but to say it's so much worse here than in the UK just isn't true. The average household income in the US is double that of the UK. Double!

That’s the whole boogeyman story everyone peddles within the USAF 😂 - That the winters are unbelievably brutal.
Don't get me wrong - the winters in Alaska are extreme….but I think the view on the water in Anchorage makes up for it. A brutal winter at the base in Minot? Not so much of a beautiful view 😂

Have you heard the joke yet about there being ‘A pretty girl behind every tree”?

wait for it…. Yeah there are no trees up there 😁

I spent 3 months up there for work. Jan-Mar it was an experience. But honestly not one that I’m sorry I had. (If I had my choice tough, I’d choose Alaska)

So you haven’t worked here for almost 20 years yet you know we have less job security?

I don't know where you got these stats or how old they are, but they should be improving after the Affordable Care Act. Of course, a lot of people don't go to the doctor because they don't want to spend $30 a month on a plan, and then they come unstuck. Could also be because the US is so large and rural that it's a challenge to get to a hospital in a timely fashion.