Potential move to Chicago: all advice needed and welcome!

[shaktar]

My husband has been offered a 3 year secondment to the states, all v exciting and the children are 6 and 7 so would be ok, hopefully.

My issue is that I'm finding it impossible to work out if it's financially viable - I've spent hours looking at areas and can work out rent but I have no idea on taxes, living costs etc. If anyone has any idea of resources I can use or lives in Illinois and can advise me I would hugely appreciate it. Also taxes on renting out a UK house when living in the states etc

I wanted a mobile phone before my social security number arrived so I just bought a phone and went on pay as you go to start off with.
Getting our cable/phone set up without this number was possible but a bit more expensive as you are basically considered undocumented without it.
Your dc will need a Doctor's vaccination form completed before they can start school so getting a pediatrician should be an early sort.

Some banks with a uk and US presence will allow you to essentially transfer your credit rating over. That won’t be accepted by everyone, but will give you a reasonable CTFs dot limit on a US card which will start you on a good foot for utilities and the like

A reasonable credit limit.

No idea what my phone is on about

When I went I managed somehow to get an account with the Private Banking bit of First National and they sorted my banking for me and got me a credit card quickly. I also had a personal banker at the end of the phone who sorted out problems (like when a retailer tried to charge me twice for the same purchase). And I wasn't earning much ... but I'm not quite sure how it happened, it was just very lucky and helpful.

I made the mistake of reading some posts before going to sleep last night and woke up worrying about costs 🤪.

I know it's an irritating piece of string question but what would you consider a decent household salary to live in chicago suburbs and sustain a middle class lifestyle?

I've heard several times on MN that American groceries are more expensive--that hasn't been my experience for the most part and I've heard Americans say that British supermarkets seem expensive to them. There is always an adjustment period when you move countries and find out what is cheaper there, what's available, which supermarkets are best, so plan to spend more initially. My experience is that Chicago supermarkets were not brilliant when I lived there.

With utilities, prices vary across the US but even if they were the same per kWh expect your utility bills to be higher especially in Chicago because the climate is more extreme. You will be using your heating more, you will need air-con in summer, and your house may be bigger. Add in variables such as the age and efficiency of the system, the age and efficiency/insulation of the house, and you will see quite a variation in billsyou won't know how much your house costs to run until you do it. When you look at houses keep the utility costs in minda big house and super high ceilings sound lovely until you remember how much electricity the air-con will use in July!

Do you have any details on health care? Again, lots of variables. We are currently on very good insurance--company pays 80% of the premium for all of us, deductible for all of us is $1K per year. But you need to know how much you are in for.

I know people living very nicely on $120K and I am sure there are many who are doing fine on less--so much depends on housing. But if you are talking about the pricier suburbs you are going to want more than that. Obviously you need somewhat less with only one income than two because you have no childcare costs, though you will want to budget for the summer break because 10-11 weeks will tire you all out. It is my least favourite part about having children in school here.

I recommend using an income tax calculator as this will estimate your net earnings. Illinois has a state income tax. Remember that health insurance will be taken out pretax. If you are renting you don't need to worry about property tax as it's on the owner of the property--rents will take it into account.

HSBC can set you up with a US bank account before you go. Not the most convenient for Chicago as there are no branches here but it’s good to get started.

If you have an Amex already they can refer you for a US credit card and give you a decent limit.

If you want car finance Audi and VW (other companies maybe too, I’m not sure) have an expat programme that doesn’t need a credit history.

We got pre-pay sims when we arrived and swapped to a family plan contract when DH’s got his social security number- that didn’t take long as he needed it to start work.

Considering you won’t be paying for childcare I would have thought $150,000 a year would get you a decent lifestyle as long as you’re not paying through the nose for healthcare. People obviously can and do get by on a lot less but if you want to take advantage of being in a new country and do a lot of stuff, run 2 cars, rent a house rather than an apartment, fly home once a year etc. then I think you’d probably need around that.

Thank you both. The help I've had (and will continue to ask for I'm afraid 😬) on here has been brilliant.

I'm in NY not Chicago, but my 2 pence generally would be:

• get an international bank account before you come over, it will save you no end of hassle and you (but check first) should be able to port over your credit rating / history with it. I also think amex do an international card with the same sort of thing - amex is a lot more widely accepted in the US than UK
• as per the point above, without credit history you can struggle to get a car or rental lease without a guarantor or significant amounts of $$$ as security for being 'a risk'. I couldn't apply for my first US credit card for 6 months, and then it was a limit of $500
• speak to the relocation firm and HR about the above if you plan to rent first off. Things maybe different as I was in NYC, but I had to stump up 6 months rent in advance, plus deposit;
• get your social security number applications in asap as you move over as its the basis of a lot of checks (bit like NI numbers)
• Also check your relocation contract to see if it includes tax help on both the US and UK sides the first year your there. I got tax specialists paid for by the firm, which was massively helpful as tax year, codes, rules etc are widely different
• Re your question on UK property; I still have a UK house I rent out, I do a UK self assessment tax return every year and pay anything owed. I don't have to pay anything on the rent earned to US tax authorities
• Utilities here (including mobiles, internet etc) are more expensive than the UK as there's bugger all competition (in our state anyway) and as a pp has said, you need to factor in annual spikes for summer and winter weather insanity

Thank you! Particularly regarding the tax help funded by the company, I'll add it to the list.

Also, this site might be useful for you. It has a heap of info by state, city and neighborhood and forums that you can pitch questions on for specifics such as school districts etc

www.city-data.com/city/Illinois.html

Worth noting that you may need to sift through the replies and take into account the US view / slant on things. Middle class and liberal here (US) has a very different meaning to the UK in terms of socio economic and political outlook

Random unrelated point is get the details from HR on your health insurance coverage about how much you'll pay a month from salary, and what your excess per year is (the excess on our current plan is anywhere between $3-$9k depending on the dr and their network and whether they're covered by insurance) Ours is exorbitant, and the firm subsidize 70% of it!

Also ask the firm / HR whether you're there on an expat or local package and contract. If its expat you usually get better benefits (flight back, better relocation one off $$, more holiday etc) than a local. Also worth noting that with a local package, your DH would be on a local employment contract, which means there's usually a 2 week notice period either way, which is tricky if the contract ends sooner than expected and you have to leave (as your visas are tied to it) Also, depending on the industry, local contracts can have minimal holiday (~10 days) entitlement which is a crap if you intend on returning to the UK for any holidays / breaks

Great, thank you. He's on UK terms so more holiday, annual flight back etc but I will double check the health stuff again.

I feel like this is a really stupid question but.. if we ship furniture and house content over (hugely pared back as I am weird and enjoy getting rid of things), what do we do while we wait? The company will fund accommodation for a month, presumably furnished, but then what do you do when you have found a rental but have no stuff?!

Corts rental furniture, it isn't great but usually your company pays for a rental package for the time it takes for your furniture to arrive.
Ideally you want to move straight into your rented house with the rental furniture. You have maybe a couple of days of hotels when you first land and one or two nights while the swap over between rental and your furniture happens.

Thank you.

I'm 99% sure we will be there in Jan/Feb next year. Any general advice about what to do/not to do/how to handle moving across the world - I'm all ears.

I'm finding myself staring at random items in the house and instantly assessing whether they would come/be stored/be jettisoned. I'll be insane by 2020.

Electrics, other than small ones won't work. So expect to buy kettles ( harder to find), toasters, kitchen mixers, fans etc when you get here. Along with TV's.
Once you know the size of house you are moving to get an international shipping assessment, stuff moves in set sizes. They will be able to tell you how much space what you have takes up and how much stuff the size below takes up.

V random - do lamps work?

Yes! My Flos Arco lamp survived shipping and is still going strong with an adapter. No way was I leaving that behind in storage!!

That makes me disproportionately happy!

You will need a lot more lamps. Rooms don't tend to have a central light but are lit by lamps.

Obsessed with interiors so that's music to my ears

So lamps and small electrics (hair appliances etc) will work with an adaptor but kitchen things (blender etc) won't and better to buy in the states?

Seeing as I've gone off on a tangent with lamps and still got answers I'll keep up my stream of consciousness questions - do they have have charity/thrift/goodwill shops in each town? Or do people buy 2nd hand furniture from eBay/Craigslist etc?

Yes to thrift stores. There’s an amazing one in my neighbourhood that has loads of furniture. It is mostly tat but I love it for a wander round at the weekend. Don’t know if that’s your style but we’ve also found a great mid-century designer resale store.

We’ve bought some stuff off Craigslist but you need to be very careful about where you’re going. There are parts of Chicago you really wouldn’t go to all, especially not with a pile of cash ready to purchase a dining table (that probably doesn’t exist). We got a bargain on some kartell bar stools from a nice family in Glencoe and actually found the designer resale shop on there too. If you stick to areas you know are safe and fairly affluent and you’ll be fine.

We have a couple of thrift stores, the Salvation Army one is great for stuff to make into school costumes.
There are also antique shops, some very expensive some more like junk shops. There are also quite trendy modern vintage shops.
The voltage is much less in US so things do work just really badly, it might be possible to get adaptors for everything but it seemed easier just to buy here.

Thank you both for including me - I live mid century furniture (let me know where the place is please!)and am a charity shop china and furniture addict.

Room lighting varies--my last house did have pot lights, current one doesn't but several rooms have combo ceiling fans and lights.

Kitchen electrics won't workin short, nothing with a motor because of the cycle difference. Also no TVs. A converter will change the voltage but not the cycle. You need a transformer to run electrics and it's not worth it. You can often pick up small kitchen electrics secondhand. Part of the reason the US seems so expensive at the moment is that the pound is weak. I remember visiting in 2008 when it was $2 to the pound and everything seemed unbelievably cheapnow at $1.25 it really isn't!

There's secondhand shops of varying quality (not quite like parts of London where there are rows of charity shops but still plenty) and Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist usually have lots for sale. Also once you have an address you can join your local Nextdoor which often has ads for garage sales (useless in a Chicago winter but when spring comes round the sales pop up--in some towns whole neighborhoods do their garage/yard sales on one weekend).

Electric kettles are getting easier to find but do take longer on 110V.

Apologies for terrible typos above - thank you for indulging me not including me and I love mid century obviously. All this information is really helpful and makes me feel like I have a tiny bit of control over something quite daunting (but ultimately exciting).