Move to New York City and cost of living worries

[NYCDreaming]

We're currently a family of four living on a single income in an expensive city in the south east (not London) on a wage of £30k. We don't have expensive tastes, no car, fortunately we own our home outright, and we live simply but we are comfortable. We have four year old twins and one of them has a disability.

DH has unexpectedly been offered a job in NYC (Upper East Side) and our first instinct is that we would love to go, but we are concerned that although the money is better (not fully set yet but in the region of $90k and untaxed for the first two years) we know that NYC is an expensive place to live and we will have extra costs (especially health insurance, particularly because of our child's disability) which might make it a struggle.

There is also an element of 'we don't know what we don't know' and we would hate to be taken by surprise by costs when we got there and possibly have to go into debt or return to the UK.

Can anyone who has been in this situation please give advice? How much would health insurance cost? What other costs might we not have thought of? Is the cost of day to day living much higher in New York? Where do we start in making this decision?

It sounds really exciting - keep us posted.

One more question. Does the visa allow you to work? If so, maybe you could get some work that fits around your family - I know it's harder when you have a child who has a lot of appointments, but I think you'll find you have much more control over timing of appointments in the US system.

BTW when we first moved to the US DH was paid $70k a year plus (sometimes) a 10% bonus. Out of that we paid $12k a year for health insurance, $24k a year for mortgage/property tax/house insurance, and we ran two cars. It wasn't easy but it wasn't impossible. We paid almost no federal tax, because our income was relatively low and we got child tax credits.

Thanks @HoldMyLobster yes we will be on the J2 visa so I am able to work, although I've been searching for years in the UK for a term time only, school hours job which doesn't mind all the appointments, so I'm not holding out too much hope. I am also often asked to collect my child from school early as he gets tired. But I will definitely see if I can find something. That sounds promising that I might have more choice over appointment times over there.

I am very excited for you! Used to live in NYC. It’s a fantastic place.