UK vs USA was your life better in UK or USA

[Cupcakeicecream]

Just out of curiosity really. For those who have lived in either country which did you prefer and why. I'm trying to weigh up the pros and cons. Eventually want to be living in the USA. It's always been a dream. I want to give my child a better quality of life and I feel that USA is better suited. I feel that there are more opportunities. But of course health care costs and gun laws put me off slightly.

I lived and worked on the West Coast in the US in my early thirties pre kids for a few years. I loved the weather, the shopping, the ease of doing anything (parking everywhere, drive thru everything), loved access to NYC as well as the mountains and beaches. I absolutely hated working there with a passion though (worked for a big global firm). No work life balance and people lived for their jobs. That’s ultimately the reason I came back.

I was born and raised in the States and then moved to the UK. I think my quality of life was definitely better in the US, but it’s not a bad quality of life here.

want2be I think your access to providers very much depends on your health insurance plan and who's in network tho?

I know people who have crappy plans provided by the state (local govt employees) or are self employed, or have medicare and its a different ballgame for them, in relation to wait time, who they can see and the copays (meaning for some of them its not feasible)

To the PP who asked about gun violence, its a huge issue for me. Yes, statistically, its pretty unlikely to happen but the fact that it happens, there's no decent gun control and it differs from state to state and funding is slashed for mental health (biggest contributor) and then you look at the amount of mass shootings this year - 272 in total and you wonder when / if it'll happen to you / your kid.

Our nursery (2.5-5 year olds) had their 'shelter in place' drill yesterday which is basically to practice what to do in the event of a school shooting

Nope. Basically they are ruling out neurological issues beyond what he has already been diagnosed with. Due to his diagnosis of autism they have income exempt Medicaid if income is about $200k or below. All the doctors we see accept Medicaid. They kinda have to because the kids they see have complex needs which are considered very serious. Most families with a disabled child qualify for the Medicaid program for their sick/disabled child through the income exemption.

Either way Im extremely concerned with his symptoms and incredibly thankful we live in this area where they have world class medical teams we can access. Elsewhere in the world, the UK in particular they think a two week turn around makes them world class. Here it's less than 48 hours.

Our experience of the healthcare system was that it was different, not necessarily better, sometimes quicker, sometimes slower because a particular specialist had a waiting list. One with a particular rare specialty and without travelling hundreds of miles we had to wait.

We travelled from DC to Emory University hospital in Atlanta for a heart specialist. Long way and expensive travel, we could afford it but many can’t.

Back in the UK a Pediatric cardiologist from Gt Ormond St (who incidentally previously worked with the director of heart transplants from Emory) travels to our local NHS hospital to hold clinics. Different and available to all.

So not necessarily better imo, just very different.

I would much rather have the NHS, available to all, than the US system, where ⅓ of the population don’t have access to adequate healthcare.

I think our quality of life is probably better in the US but for me the big con is not being close to grandparents/cousins and I underestimated how much that would bother me when I moved, childless to the US.

We live in a bigger house, 5 mins walk to an excellent school, 20 min commute to work versus the 90 minute grind in London. Our salaries are higher- pensions better, tax free saving for pensions available, weather better, more sport options open to all. I have never seen a gun nor know anyone who has one- and I ask....but the gun thing is a con of course. Our healthcare is amazing- I go in and say I slipped on my knee and am being x rayed 15 minutes later and the results available online within 48 hours. Health insurance is a massive con ( ours is free with my work) but I do feel confident that if I get sick here, I will get the best treatment, faster than in the UK where a relative has just waited 9 months for an operation that would happen within 2 weeks here.

Do not underestimate how not seeing family regularly takes a toll. We feel a little stuck because I suspect if we returned to the UK we would miss our US lifestyle and there are more opportunities job wise here than in the UK I believe.
The UK is a great country to live in, even with its weaknesses as is the US.

I moved to UK a long time ago, so not sure I can speak definitively. From southern California. These are things why I tend to find UK much better:

Drive by shootings are not routine (were in CA when I lived there)
No helicopters buzzing the neighbourhood routinely (were in CA)
No meth house on the corner (was one where I grew up, very DesRes neighbourhood, btw)
No rampant anti-intellectualism
Much lower murder rate
Not very difficult to avoid being very car-dependent
Kids in my community don't use tonnes of illegal drugs (we did, 1970s)
Student loans scheme is much better in UK (DC now heading to Uni)
No worries about losing health insurance if lose/change jobs
Flowers in the spring! So green.
Few stupidly designed reverse tardis houses & cars
Life is unfair, this is not your fault (UK value)
So much more annual leave from work in UK; this astonishes Americans
Active travel is a lot easier in UK (this matters to me)
Homebirths are easy enough in UK
Property tax is not insane in UK
Public transport works well in UK (a lot of my points are about transport)
Kids can ride a skateboard in UK without having to wear a helmet
Can we talk about political insanity? California voted to ban gay marriage & make English the official language, that was CA, now imagine MS, NC or GA politics.

My dad says British people are a lot obviously fatter than Californians, mind, and UK weather is rarely great. Americans eat out too much (Canadian friend despaired of this). I can suffer some cold rather than having to ask every parent if they really locked the guns up, who has access to the cabinet key.

U.K. totally and I don't have children, I live in Manhattan and moved from zone 2 London. Everything (transport, banking, education) is backwards here. What I wouldn't give to commute on the tube again. I've not been here very long but I wish we'd never moved. It's cause untold damage to my marriage and my mental health. I have another 2.5 years here before we can go back to London, I'm practically counting the days.

The only reason we're not going back sooner is because of Brexit and my DH's job

I think the other thing that can really influence your view of the quality of life in the US, is what socio economic band you're in and what race you are.

If you're affluent and white then its a very different experience from someone on low - middle income wages or a person of color (even if they earn a high amount)

The casual racism I see and experience (and its very very mild for us, based on assumptions about our last name) is an eye opener.

Yes, the UK is racist in parts, but I can't imagine having to be in the US and a person of color and have 'the talk' with your kids at a very young age about being extra careful around the police and basically everyone waiting to dial you in - see the recent histrionics around 'being black whilst bbqing / walking / kids setting up a lemonade stand / being in your home etc

I could see that Little, I am white British but my two best friends (for 30 years since uni are not) and the prejudice I saw (some subtle, some less so but ingrained in so many ways) hit me like a sledgehammer in terms of my being aware of it.

I also found life in the US more expensive, taxes, property taxes, driving distances everywhere more expensive than in the UK. We had a four bed three bathroom house UK. Same in the US albeit with slightly bigger rooms. Similar size land with both. So I am comparing apples, one near Cambridge commutable to London, the other close to DC.

little Totally agree with you. Most Brits come over with lower salaries than what Americans are paid. Here the social groups are very much determined by income. Lower income very much means you are in a lower class than you were in when in the UK. Discrimination is worse in the lower socioeconomic groups. It always has been that way with my grandparents facing it because granny married a Greek. She was upper class and no one in the upper class had an issue. It was middle class people who were terribly ignorant until the Queen married Prince Philip.

I'm in the NYC area and the racism isn't so bad. It gets called out quickly and people don't tolerate it.

@Want2bSupermum when you say middle class in Britain it means something different than in the States. I found out he hard way! 😂

I only lived in the USA for a few months a long time ago, but I left with the feeling that it's a great place to visit but not somewhere I'd actually want to live.

I was inspired to look up Prince Phil...
He left Greece in infancy.
Was educated all over Europe.
His mother could count herself as completely British-German.
His father was prince of Greece, but Phil's paternal grandmother could count self as Russian-German, while paternal grandfather could count self as Danish because his dad was King of Denmark while mom was Danish-German).

Yet Prince Phil gets labeled 'Greek'! Fairly funny. He's as Greek as I am Italian (am not remotely Italian).

Prince Philip was treated terrible by upper middle class people running the media etc. while the upper class were absolutely fine with him. He was one of them and a very suitable match. My grandmother told me there was a lot of frustration because of his behavior (it was seen as very unacceptable that there be any hint of affairs because of him being married to the Queen).

Painting Prince Philip as Greek was very racist. Back then all Greeks, Spaniards and Italians (Mediterraneans) were seen as peasants. The media was run by upper middle class people looking to disrupt he status quo. No issues with them being disruptive but it was too much of a stretch to be racist.

@Ignoramusgiganticus a few months many years ago?

So you are completely unqualified to comment on a thread about living in the States vs the UK.

Why the hell do people take any chance on this forum to leap in and run the US down?

Agree with ignoramus. I was born in London and spent a few months living in the US.
I was living a pretty comfortable life, but I just hated living there.
I love to visit the US, I have many relatives there.,However,I don’t have any desire to live there.

Being somewhere for just a few months isn't long enough to get a proper sense of living there.

And it's such a huge place, it's ridiculous saying because you've lived somewhere the whole of America isn't fit for living in. It's like saying all of Europe is the same. 🙄

I'll be dead in my grave before anybody drags me back to live in the Uk.

Good for you that you love if plates but it doesn’t make anyone else’s experience less valid. I have got a green card and you couldn’t drag me back.

I didn’t feel any differently at the five month point than I did at the five year point. If I hadn’t moved lock stock and barrel I wouldnt have stayed so you can’t dismiss someone who says they only lived there for a few months either.

For the record I lived in four states.

It's funny - I think you either love one place or the other.

Several times I have woken up crying because I dreamt we moved back to the UK and I couldn't afford to leave.

I like visiting. I just shudder at the thought of living there again.

Lol @Stupomax I have nightmares about living back there too!

Maine is pretty amazing though....

Maine is pretty amazing though....

It is - although ask me again when we've just had an early April snowstorm and I'll be ready to leave :-)

Paha! Yes it's easy to say in October. Although we have that Nor'easter coming tomorrow which they say may be an ice storm more inland! 

And we had snow on Wednesday.

It's horses for courses isn't it - what do you value and prioritise, and find a place that fits.

I'm living in Italy right now, and it's just not for me, I don't fit in with the culture - and that's fine, plenty of people do, it doesn't make it bad, just not for me.

I've lived in a few places, and they all have pros and cons for me. Not found the perfect one yet.