beachgal21

This question is aimed more at those people who have already moved back to the UK. I'm interested to know how you've found the cost of living in the UK compared to the country you've moved from. I'm moving back home as soon as our house in Florida sells, so would particularly like to hear from others that have moved home from the US.

dunroving

This should be interesting - from past threads, people seem to fall 50/50 on this question and they often end up as yet another UK is good/UK is crap, but so is Australia thread.

FWIW, I have found I earn more (but then I have had a promotion), get taxed a lot more, including all forms of tax, pay less for car insurance and health and pay a boatload more for petrol. Overall, my day to day living costs are relatively similar.

My biggest financial advantage in the UK is much better occupational pension provision, lower health care costs (I have never needed health care that much, but that will change with time), and provision for non-pension, tax-free investments via ISAs. In the long run, the latter will make me more financially comfortable than in the US (though nowhere near well off, I will feel finaancially more secure when I retire). In fact I just turned down a really nice job opportunity back in the US because I figured if I stay here I can retire in about 5 years but there I would be going for another 10 years, and maybe wouldn't be in as good a position even then.

Pulaski

Where are you thinking of moving to. Between Mayfair and Huddersfield there are a million shades of grey.

A side from there being a huge range of possible costs of living in the UK, my own observation and experience is that the opinion on cost of living is heavily income dependant. If a large part of your income in the US goes on food and healthcare, then the UK seems cheaper than the US. On the other hand, if your income is higher and more of your income goes on a "fancy" house, eating out, cars and entertainment, then the US seems cheaper. That's my 2¢.

chris955

I can only of course compare to Australia. 10 or 12 years ago the difference between the COL in Australia and the UK was staggering and very much in favour of Australia but in that decade or so the situation has gone full 180 and I honestly never thought I would be able to say that. I find most things cheaper or at least comparable here and it has nothing to do with exchange rates as that always seems to be the thing some fall back on. It doesnt help someone coming from the US but it does show to me that this country is nowhere near as expensive as some would have us believe.

Editha

We have a household income which is a little above average in either Canada or the UK, but probably have more assets than the average.

We've found Alberta where we've lived for the last 8 years expensive for food, household and car insurance and clothing. We've also spent a lot of money on just getting out of Alberta to spend time in the UK or elsewhere in Canada or Europe, so our travel costs have been significantly higher than in the UK. Books are also expensive here.

Obviously, when it comes to housing, you get more space for your money.

I've seen a lot of people say they get taxed less in Alberta than the UK, but whenever I've done a comparison, there isn't much difference, particularly if you include city taxes which are high. The lower sales tax compared with VAT is lost in the higher prices in Alberta, unless you are buying from IKEA.

Computers and peripherals are cheaper in Alberta. So are white goods, but one reason for that is that they are of significantly lower quality and you pay through the nose for features on e.g. washing machines here that are standard in Europe.

The job my husband took in Canada was paid 40% more than the job he had in the UK, despite being at a lower grade. His pension is better than the UK equivalent and the health insurance which covers dental for both of us has reduced our bills a little. But dental work is much more expensive in Alberta than the UK, and of lower quality.

So, overall, I'd say that with the exception of housing, the cost of living is higher in Alberta than the UK, but that is likely to be compensated by an increase in income.

jaysangha

Ditto for Toronto. I find that if your on a decent(ish) salary, the cost of living is a little less in England. I'm thinking of things like grocery, TV, Internet, Mobiles, Beer! Even following a sports teams seems to be more cost effective - anyone seen how much an England jersey costs in the GTA???

lgabriel73

This is a very difficult question to answer for someone coming from the US given that the cost of living varies so much across the US. Youre in Florida and Im in Massachusetts and there is a huge difference between my cost of living and yours. If you head to London you may think you have a huge cost of living increase, however I'm heading to Yorkshire so I'm going to benefit from a decrease. So many geographical variables.

dunroving

See post #2 - it never seems to prevent people arguing the toss about these issues, often for page after page after page after ...

roaringmouse

There's normally only one poster that seems to always feel the need to include Australia in such a thread when it's solely about the UK.

At least this thread is asking for comparisons with other countries, which can be quite hard to quantify due to things like differences in income levels, difference in individual costs of things, location with countries. Unless of course you go off on one and compare with just the current exchange rate, which gives you next to no information on cost of living comparisons.

dunroving

I think the whole exchange rate fluctuation thing often makes many of these discussions pointless except for one moment in time.

davros1984

In comparison to NZ (typically) the UK is a lot cheaper with the exception of petrol. Food, holidays, clothes, general stuff and luxuries are far more expensive. House prices are a tricky one. For instance, Auckland, despite only having a population of 1.4 million, is the second most expensive city to live in, in the world especially in terms of house prices. Hence loads and loads of Chinese using Auckland as their backyard for investment. However, if you move away from the main centres, New Zealand is very cheap to buy (assuming you can find a form of income).

Everytime we go back to the UK - we are staggered at how cheap stuff is in general. Hence we are moving back to the UK in less than 2 months!

hungryhorace

I found the UK quite reasonable overall. Things I found expensive (compared to America) are electronics (MAJOR difference there!) and motor vehicles.

Pom_Chch

I have found that we are better of in NZ (Chch) financially but there are so many factors that affect this and I suppose our situation is unique just like any one else. Having said that I did not find the UK expensive as such, just cheaper where we are now.

The reason I find Chch cheaper is because the things we spend the bulk of our income on are cheaper. That would be our mortgage, fuel and insurance. Our mortgage is very reasonable considering the quality, size and location of our home. Petrol is also much cheaper and car/life/house insurance can only be described as a friggin' steal! Our situation is also party due to the fact that we both work in occupational areas in demand in Chch so we are paid well. In the UK my partner found a decent paying job easily but I found it very difficult so we were effectively living on one and a third salaries in London

It really is all subjective. Perhaps if we lived in a cheaper area of the UK with both of us earning a full time wage we may have had a different view. But essentially that didn't happen so I can't really comment. Perhaps if our jobs weren't in demand in NZ or we lived in a more expensive area then we may think differently too...

chris955

Yes we have found the same, it is incredible how the gap that always existed between the UK and Australia has closed and now reversed. Of course it wont apply to everyone as you will always get those who earn considerably more in one country or the other.

roaringmouse

Would you also say your quality of life is better in New Zealand than what it was in the UK?

Lower cost of living doesn't always make for a better quality of life, which is something that can be missed in threads about cost of living.