Bob

What's the cost of living in Wales compared to Scotland compared to Yorkshire v London?

Daft question? Well you'll get that same variety within a state in the US, never mind which coast you might be on.

city-data.com will help you narrow the local cost of living in a particular area you might be interested in. glassdoor and salary.com are sites that'll help work out salary ranges for professions and will have links comparing cost of living by locations.

Also check out the state DMV site to get a rough idea of what it'll cost on getting a car on the road, title, registration, inspection, plates, all that kind of stuff.

State taxes and the IRS site also worth a look to see what might come out of the salary.

Other thoughts, kids close to uni, realise they need to be resident in the UK for 3 years prior to entering uni to get UK rates, other wise they will have to pay international rates which can be quite expensive, saying that, it could be very expensive in the US too.

HumphreyC

How come the Nu Joisey property taxes are so astronomically high? They are nowhere near that here, especially not in my town- mind you your roads probably don't look like they belong in a third world country.

Jerseygirl

They are the most expensive in the US...and yes our roads do belong in a 3rd world country.

Bob

They were pretty massive in the burbs on Boston though....

Out in the sticks the houses aren't worth nearly as much though, so that's most of why it's less out here

Englishmum

BTW I live in a very modest 'colonial' style house in New Jersey.

I had my gutters cleaned out and the gutter guy also does window cleaning, so I asked him to do those too, on the outside only.

I nearly died when I got a $400 bill just for cleaning the bloody windows!

My windows now desperately need to be cleaned again, but no way am I paying that kind of money again!

Jerseygirl

I got a quote for window cleaning about 10 years ago...it was over $1K. My sister complained a couple of months ago that she's now having to pay £15 for window cleaning.

scrubbedexpat099

UK BBC:

The Institute for Fiscal Studies said that, unlike in previous recessions, families have reacted to a squeeze on living standards by cutting back the amount they spend on food and drink.
Spending on holidays and restaurant meals has also been sacrificed, the economists said. By contrast, spending on “durable” items like cars and electrical goods saw smaller falls.
The research also highlighted significant variations in the way households have adjusted their spending, with younger people cutting back much more than their elders.
People under 35 cut back their spending by an average of seven percentage points. For those between 35 and 64, the drop was five points. Yet for those aged 65 and over, there was “no statistically significant fall”.

Beccarose

I just wanted to reiterate what others have said about health insurance. It's something so many people take for granted- assuming they will continue to be covered or that they will work it out alright. Health insurance is really expensive, even if it is employer provided it can be very expensive. Health care without health insurance will put you into debt faster than you could even guess. If you go to the emergency room and along with all the other things they do, if they give you 1 Tylenol they will then charge you $7 for just that one Tylenol. And that $7 was as of years ago, who knows what it would be now.
My husband has health insurance covered through his employer. He is fully covered- myself and our children cost extra (close to $1k a month). Even with being 'covered' he had to have emergency eye surgery this summer and for that one 45 minute procedure the bills are still flowing in- we're talking in the thousands of dollars we have to pay out of pocket.
So as I said, it is something many people don't realize. Even with health insurance, you will end up owing large amounts- just doctor check up co-pays can be staggering.
If one of your kids fell and broke his/her arm you will then be saddled with ER bills, medicines, x-rays, doctors (and trust me, they find a way for it to be more than 1 Dr your child will have seen), room time... the list goes on and on, and yes, they will break down the costs to the very smallest of things like a sponged used for cleaning the arm. And then you will have all of the follow up Dr fees to deal with as well. And this is even if you have insurance!

keaki80

I agree with Penguinsix, the cost of living can vary so dramatically from one state to the other and even on one item to another. Groceries balance themselves out, you get good things, cheap deals - and bad things. Cheap petrol, but huge medical and dental. It is a massive thing and really hard to answer, depending on where you're moving from and where you're planning on moving to, like another poster said.
When my sister was here a few weeks ago we discussed electric and gas bills and ours were cheaper than hers all round, despite us having a bigger house. Our house prices, (in this area) are really cheap compared to where I came from (the south of England) and of course, you do tend to get more for your money. And eating out is so much cheaper, but I'm not sure if I'd be wanting to take out a family of 6 too often!

Unfortunately this question is not one that can be answered easily. SO many variables.
Good luck getting all the answers you need to make a decision. It isn't going to be easy.

HumphreyC

Whatever answer you give is going to depend on your personal circumstances. I find it vastly cheaper here but there are so many variables that go into that assessment that it can't apply to anyone else.

New Jersey does sound like a rip off though.

katjoeuk

Why do you even want to leave the UK??
I've been living in Maryland for about 6 weeks now and boy do I wish I were back in England - I miss it soooo much!!! And that's coming from a German

I wouldn't stay here a minute longer if we didn't have to be here for my hubby's job.....

Oh and I totally agree - I came here expecting almost everything to be cheaper - I was in the US for a couple of months back in 1999 and found everything to be really cheap; unfortunately, that is no longer the case, a lot of things are actually more expensive here than in the UK (which has a reputation for being expensive in the rest of Europe!!).

As I said, if I were you, I'd stay in Good Old Blighty, esp. with such a large family!!!