christmasoompa

Fair enough. Don't forget to factor in things that you may not currently pay in the UK, like healthcare costs for your family etc. It may be worth starting a new thread in the main US forums about the costs of living in AK versus the UK.

Good luck.

Zoe Bell

Have you factored health care costs into your equation?
I don't want to get into a political argument about the pros and cons of each system but if you are coming from the UK you may be in for a bit of a surprise. Especially given that you wouldn't be getting insurance through an employer

civilservant

$20 for a frozen pizza at the grocery store.

Mainland USA it is not.

Rete

We have a lovely BE family who moved to Anchorage from Texas about 2 years ago. Here is one of his posts. Alaska

You can do a search of the USA forum for Owen778 using the search button on the blue banner above.

P.S. Why do your children have to go to a private school. What's wrong with a public school which you pay property taxes to support?

Nutmegger

Unfortunately, that quality of life is such that apparently the state has long had a massive alcoholism problem!

BenK91

I've been fortunate enough to visit Alaska a couple of times and it is fantastic. Incredibly expensive and also a rather huge alcohol and meth/opioid problem.

Not to mention people there didn't seem to like "outsiders" much at all. Would recommend you visit before selling your life in the UK to move somewhere so remote and expensive in comparison to the US mainland.

TexanScot

Not everywhere is lucky enough to have a good public school system.

I don't have children, but if I did then I wouldn't be sending them to my local public schools - they are awful here.

Moses2013

Can only agree with others and no offence, but why would you risk losing 900K just to get visas, so you can then end up hunting and fishing because you might have seen Alaska on TV? It does not make any sense at all, especially as you have locations close by that offer the feeling of remoteness, but you won't have to spend nearly a million to do that. Have you actually spent a few weeks in the wilderness, for example one of the Nordic countries, or even Scotland? And if you end up in Anchorage because it's the only place you can start a business, it's hardly wilderness.

Rete

I accept that argument for private schooling. They are currently in the UK. Is the schooling so bad in parts of the UK that private schooling is a necessary option?

Moses2013

In fairness you can get pizza for less and probably depends where? In Ketchikan the Digiorno Pizza - is $ 6,49

http://www.tatsudaiga.com/weekly_ad/tatsudas_weekly.pdf

Foodland in Juneau has Cauliflower Pizza for $6.99
https://s3.grocerywebsite.com/produc.../AKNatural.pdf

But in relation to drugs and crime, here some interesting info:
Alaska has the highest violent crime rate of any state. There were 829 reported incidents of violent crime in the state for every 100,000 people in 2017, more than double the national violent crime rate of 382.9 per 100,000.

Violence in Alaska is not limited to crimes committed against others. Suicide is also relatively common in the state. There were 25 suicides for every 100,000 state residents over the last five years, nearly double the 13.2 per 100,000 national rate. Additionally, no state has a higher share of firearm-related suicides than Alaska. There were 15.8 firearm suicides per 100,000 people in the state in the last five years, compared to the national rate of 6.6 per 100,000 people.

https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/n...ates/39672421/

ddsrph

Nutmegger

I trust you are already practicing this kind of subsistence lifestyle. You will need all the experience you can get in advance, as the growing season will be much shorter in Alaska -- and the animals much bigger and harder to skin and butcher!

robtuck

There is a standard curriculum, but the standard of student & teachers will vary, so you do get very wide variation in schools still. The Private system in the UK is a completely different kettle of fish, head and shoulders above due to the funding. People moving here have to be careful with the description of private and public because here (USA) I don't think you have that same step-up all the time. Public vs Private in the UK is like local Tech College vs. Harvard.

Owen778

OK, so I just saw this thread - hardly surprising since you posted this at 4am my time, Clare.

Rete (thanks) has already posted a link to my latest thread. We have been here 11 months so far, including all of last winter, and last year's earthquake. I can give you a bit more info on some items that are more relevant for you:

- Some people are welcoming, some are not. It has taken us adults a while to find friends, but we're getting there, and it's often true of any major move. I wouldn't worry about it if the move is otherwise right for you.

- There are two types of people who thrive in Alaska: 1. Those who love the freedom of "the last frontier", love getting their hands dirty doing things for themselves, and love getting outdoors in all seasons (it sounds like this might be you); and 2. Those who have plenty of money, and either use it to get outdoors for fun, or travel to Hawaii or elsewhere to relieve the monotony of winter. There's a lot of people who love living in Anchorage, but there's also a lot of depression, alcoholism and homelessness.

- The public schools in Anchorage are variable, but mostly OK. We chose to move to south Anchorage, as we wanted to be in the attendance zone for South High School. We're happy with our local schools (elementary / middle / high), though the schools we moved from in suburban Houston were better. However, do not assume that private schools will be what you'd expect in the UK. In my experience, most people in the US send their children to private schools because they are unhappy with the secular nature of the public school system. I only did a quick search, so I could be wrong, but it looks like in Anchorage, if you ignore all the Christian schools, there is an alternative school for dyslexics (Eagle Crest Academy), and a single secular school that goes to 8th grade (middle school) only (Pacific Northern Academy). If what you want is a Christian school, there are plenty here. I don't think the non-religious education is likely to be any better though - my daughter has some friends who come to her high school for their maths classes because they say it's better than their Christian school.

- Your business - this may give you pause. I don't know what your current business is, so I can't gauge demand here. Anchorage is not doing as well economically as much of the rest of the US. Part of this is the low oil prices, and the governor's current push to cut the state budget may soon make the economy worse and drive people out of state to find employment. Also, from talking to people, it seems building a new business here requires building a network with the other businesses, and that will likely take a while. That said, margins are often high due to the limited competition. It's possible you could do well.

Owen778

I thought I should add a quick reply to this, too. I doubt that Anchorage's statistics on this front are good, but all the numbers quoted here are very likely heavily impacted by the remote towns and villages in the bush. Anchorage may not be a bustling metropolis, but it's still very different to those places.