Anyone emigrated from UK to USA?

[Rainbow1234]

My dh is originally from Texas but moved to London 15 years ago when he was 16. We have 2 dc aged 4 and 7 (both have dual nationality) and he has now been offered a really good job in California where his family live and wants me to think about us all moving out there but I’m so unsure. I was born and brought up in London, my family is here but I can’t help thinking life could be better for my kids out there, anyone?

I made the move before meeting DH and having DC. I've had opportunities here as a working woman that I would never had in the U.K. There are downsides to living here though, especially if you don't come over on the right visa or package.

Ask away with questions.

I'm really interested in this too as my husband has an opportunity to take a job in Florida. I'd be really grateful to know what you consider are the pros and cons of US life.

The pros are:

I've been able to have 3DC and continue working, building a career which now pays enough to properly make it worth my while to work.

The healthcare we have access to is vastly superior to the NHS. I have two DC with ASD. We have so many options of different therapists who can help with issues such as feeding to jumping and other functions. If one therapist isn't working we have another few to chose from.

Education is good where we live. Public schools are great in our town with dedicated teachers. It's not like this in every state or in every town.

Cons

It's extremely expensive to live here. There is no safety net so yeah you can't survive on a salary of £35k a year. Food, kids activities and property taxes (which are what pays for schools so low property taxes would make me wary about an area) are all high. Expect to pay $15-20k each year in property taxes for an average home in North Jersey. Food is about $1000 a month. Kids activities are $25/hr.

My brother lives in California with his American wife. Pros are that he lives near a beautiful beach, there is lots to do for families, there are good career opportunities, it is clean and warm.
Cons are that California is expensive wrt housing and food. Even good healthcare packages still result in you having to spend quite a lot on dr appts, tests and medicine.
Employers are not all that sympathitic if you have to take time off work with a sick child that you cannot send to daycare (although that could easily be the same here).
What will you do wrt university education for your dc - that comes around quicker than you think.
There is a lot of poverty and no safety net - can you live with that? My brother lives in Southern California in quite a prosperous place but he is starting to worry about schools and security.
There is a different mindset and you have to work out whether you can adjust. Even for you dh, if he has lived here since he was 16, it will be culturally very different. Is there a short term option you could try - say a couple of years with the option to return?

I am moving over later this year to live with my fiancé but I wouldn't chose it otherwise. I am put off by lack of employee benefits such as sick pay, holiday entitlement, maternity leave etc. And also having to pay out for medical things even with insurance.

The work points are big for me. Even in good jobs the holiday entitlement can be really bad so end up not being able to spend much time as a family but can be worked around.

Working here, I get great benefits. My base is about £120k a year with all healthcare paid for, unlimited sick and 4 weeks vacation. My cell and internet is paid for by the company and they have a generous expense policy (private company). I have 2 disabled children and the CEO picked up the phone and called people in his network when I had issues. Now it's plain sailing because they are scared of me because of my boss.

Living here we do a lot of charity work because the gap between the top and bottom is so very wide. You don't want to be at either end. Both top and bottom are full of rottenness. The middle is great and much better than the UK which is why so many middle class people prefer the Us. We struggle with raising our DC here in a town which is getting richer and richer. Solid middle class areas tend to not have the same degree of drug problems or anxiety/stress related disorders that wealthy or poor towns have.

Thank you so much. Can I ask what the main outgoing costs are? How does it compare with the UK in that respect?

I think food costs were we are in Midwest are about double but we live in a high tax area.

Prescription costs which can only be part covered by insurance can be hundreds of dollars for pretty mundane stuff.

Electric and gas have no choice in our state and are at least a third more expensive than UK. Insurance also more.

Phone is 50 dollars a month for something that was 15 pounds in UK, partly because we had no credit rating when we moved.

Eating out is cheaper but heavily tipped. Decent new world wine is a lot cheaper maybe a 1/3.

We live in a fantastic city but public schools are awful. There are great schools in the suburbs and if you live there you will be given a space so no stress.

Ive been told by a friend that once you’ve lived in California and filed taxes there, it is very difficult to cease having to file taxes there. She finds it very stressful.

Our monthly spend on everyday items is $10k a month. We spend about $7500 between housing costs and childcare. $1000 goes on food. The rest goes on various crap like eating out, clothes, nails etc.

Childcare is about $3250 a month but can be higher when DH is away and I have work commitments. I try to keep it below $3750 a month. Our DC are 6, 5 and about to turn two in two weeks.

Where in California? It's an amazing place to live, but the cost of living can be astronomical depending on where you live. As someone mentioned above, food, mobile, internet, property taxes are much more expensive. I don't find eating out to be much cheaper living in high cost of living areas in both the US and UK once you add tips on in the US. Petrol is less expensive, but people tend to have bigger cars with worse fuel economy and drive more, so I think it balances out. Where I'm from in California, the utility costs are low as it never gets particularly warm or cold so no need to run the heat or ac much.

That all said, I LOVE California. I've left both California and London for work reason and regret both. Working on getting back to either currently.

To the lady that might move to Florida it’s so much more cheaper then New Jersey. Go online and see how cheap housing is. Taxes on the home will be also.

LyndaLaHughes

South Florida is hot and humid almost all the time, mostly a giant mess of suburban sprawl and people are fairly aggressive. Northern Florida is slightly less hot and a bit less suburban sprawl. The beaches are beautiful and if you like theme parks and golf you're set. Not so great if you like to go outside a lot between April and November (and certain days in the other months). Don't be fooled by the temperatures that might seem bearable...the humidity is brutal.

However, I have met plenty of people that like Florida, so to each their own.

I moved to NYC with my American DH four years ago. Life is so much better for me now than it would have been had a stayed in the UK - particularly professionally. The opportunities here are so much better than in the UK and the salaries are much higher, although as has previously been mentioned, then need to be as you wont have a safety net.

I always thought I'd want to go home after five years, but I hate even going back to visit now. I think about how my life would have been if I'd stayed in in England and it makes me shudder to think of it.

Happy to answer any questions you might have!

It really does massively depend on where you are - Sacramento is a different ballgame to LA for example.

We’re in LA and we spend about $1000/month on groceries, $60/month on gas, $200/month on water, electricity and sewage. Mortgage is $3500, property tax is $14K/yr

Now the DC are in school childcare is a lot cheaper, we spend a lot of money on trips and travelling (back to the UK every summer at a minimum)

We have 2 cars which are cheap to run. Our healthcare contributions are about $400/month and pre-tax.

Phones are expensive - we run 2 lines with unlimited data for $140/month. We don’t have cable but al the streaming services add up!

I think the biggest difference for us is groceries - we can’t get decent bread for under $5 a loaf for example, organic milk is $4, fruit and veg even though it’s grown locally is extortionate BUT DH is on easily 2-3times the wage he’d get in the UK and I’m earning more as well

We are very very far away from home and family though

We live in Texas.

We really love it and will be sad when we return to the U.K. in a few years.

However it’s not a place to move to without a very good relocation package. Healthcare is excellent but really expensive. Food is also more expensive as is eating out.

You get a lot of house for your money but you need to consider taxes and other costs being higher.

If you have children you need to look ahead to university costs which are phenomenal.

We're in Silicon Valley, moved from UK 18 months ago. As others have said the cost of living is astronomical.

We spend $5500 on rent and utilities, $1000 on groceries

I wouldn't have moved to America if it wasn't for my husbands work. My biggest tip is if you are considering it, get an AMEX card in the UK and then you can easily get a US one when you move here - you will have no credit history and that can make things really tricky for a while