Almondbutter

I know the answer may be how long is a piece of string…but wonder if you could help with a rough figure.

My husband has been offered a tenured job in US, salary $130k a year. Good healthcare, good annual leave, and they’d cover shipping costs for the move. Once here this would be a permanent move so we would get no help with housing etc on top of the salary.

We currently live in Surrey commuter belt, small mortgage, current joint household income is around £110k (I probably wouldn’t work if we moved or if I did it would be very part time). We would want a similar quality of life to what we currently have.

We are looking at living in Massachusetts but don’t need to be near Boston (so can be further out and therefore cheaper housing costs). Good school districts would be important to us but it seems all of Massachusetts has pretty good schools?

Does this sound feasible or too low? Thanks for your help

christmasoompa

Hi, welcome to BE.

If you're on £110k in the UK now I can't see how $130k in MA is going to give you 'a similar quality of life' personally. That sounds like they've just matched his UK salary and converted it? Is it just the two of you or do you already have children?

Almondbutter

Thank you.

At the moment just us, but I’m pregnant and we would hope to have another soon after. We currently earn similar (£55k each) so we would be going from two salaries to one. I could probably get a job out there too - but lack of maternity leave and family support etc means I only want to make the move if it will work just on his salary, especially while we have a young family.

Does anyone roughly know what sort of salary would be need to get a £110k London suburbs/South east England life in Massachusetts??

tht

Although not as extreme as NY which stretches from NYC to Canadian boarder MA is pretty big and varied, I think you will struggle anywhere close to Boston, it’s burbs and silicone ally…

You need to do this the other way around… decide where, look at Zillow rents / house prices and then add on all costs… and decide what you would need.

Most places in the burns means 2 cars even if one is only to drive to the station and back… while I have seen it, you don’t want to be the mom loading your baby in to the car every morning to drop your husband at the train station at 7am….

you working would depend on visa type.. it sound like he is an academic based on a mention of tenure… so H1b is not capped, but you can’t work on H4 until the Green Card is in process…

I have family friend who went though exactly this, but at Yale in CT… they stayed long enough to have 2 USC babies and get GC’s…. And then left, I think the main issues were lack of support with no family here… and cost… living in small rented apt and only having 1 car….

Almondbutter

Thank you - all v helpful, especially regarding two cars etc.
Yes you’re correct in academic thinking - and interesting to know of other who have done similar and what issues they faced. Thank you!

Moses2013

Being in Ireland there is always somebody you know/or that person knows someone who is in or around Boston. Everywhere you go these days, it seems it will always be the house prices that dictate quality of life.
If you have a nice house and low mortgage right now, you will probably end up unhappy if you sell and end up in an apartment that has an even higher mortgage. My uncles wife has family in Dover MA and it's a lovely place they say. Good for them, but unless your house can fetch the same amount of money a house will cost there, it's not of interest. I agree with tht and it's always better to look at what you can afford/need first and take it from there. Then you can compare if it really is an improvement.

christmasoompa

Very sensible to make sure you can move just on his salary, particularly as some visas won't allow you to work anyway. Do you know what visa you'd be moving on and do you have a 'green card' commitment from the employer if you're viewing this as a permanent move?

It's often said on the forum that to achieve a similar standard of life you'd need to double your UK salary and stick a dollar sign in front of it, so $220k. But I agree with the above suggestion - get an idea of your monthly costs, what you'll have to pay for housing/cars/healthcare/groceries etc, and then see where you end up. Or look at your monthly take home after taxes and healthcare (maybe $6.5-7k ish??) and if that would be enough to give you the life you want.

Best of luck to you.

tht

MA is a state… but in terms of cost difference it’s probably more like comparing it to England… so the cost difference could range from central London to a village in Norfolk away from all commuter connections. I have been looking at cottages near Great Barrington MA for kids skiing… a 2 bed 2 bath detached house is $350k…. A 2 bed 2 bath condo in south end (not even central Boston) is $1.2m… that said a 3 bed 2 bath semi/condo in Roxbury is $385k… and commutable to Boston

it’s all in the details…

christmasoompa

Yes, I realise that. What I meant was the that blanket advice of 'double it and add a dollar sign' that seems to be applied across anywhere in the US may not be accurate for MA (anywhere in MA). It seems quite a general rule considering the cost of living differences in places so may need increasing or decreasing accordingly.

PetrifiedExPat

I can offer some insight. My salaries have ranged from ~30k-200's plus. 110 GBP is worth far more than 130 USD in MA.

MA is full of big earners and our combined salary of 250+k means we live comfortably. Note, comfortably. My wife also takes care of all insurance matters and I can do what I want with high risk ventures. Most who live in Boston on 130k will struggle to rent, let alone daycare et al.

We cleared out mortgage and live well, but plan very very very far in advance, and get all your ducks in a row

PetrifiedExPat

ps I live ~45 miles outside of Boston. For a family home plan to spend 500k-1 million USD, and make sure you have a nice cash down payment, or you wont be able to compete unless you go 10-20% over asking

Rete

Curious what you mean that the move will be a permanent one. Has the institution consented to applying for his legal permanent residency (Green card) and if so, will they include you in the process.

Generally, educational institutions do offer good healthcare options. Can you live on $130K in MA? Of course you, but can you live with the same economic comforts that you currently have? Depends on your life style.

One thing to note that you need to find out is if you come to the US before giving birth, will the healthcare offer cover the costs of your pregnancy and delivery.

Until you have a green card in your hands, I would not purchase a house. Ask the institution if there are accommodations for professors and their families available for lower rental near campus.

SanDiegogirl

At today's exchange rate 110K GBP converts to $133K - so if the new organisation is offering $130K they are not even offering his current income, never mind an uplift.
If organisation has sought out the OP (and not him applying for the job) then a good uplift would be expected

The OP lives in Surrey, with a small mortgage. They say this will be a permanent move. Are they intending to sell their current house? Rent or buy in MA? I'm thinking here of property taxes in MA if buying as I hear they are quite high. Quite a difference to council tax in the UK.

Bearing in mind that the OP's wife is pregnant and they intend to have a further child, I'd be thinking about what the future level of income is likely to be as out of pocket expenses with 2 children might be significant (again all depending on type of health insurance)

trentschris

Hi there,
Thought I'd offer a comment as I own a property in Brookline, MA and have good knowledge of Boston and surrounding suburbs and I'm also from Surrey originally.
Honestly, I think you'd really struggle on 130k USD gross. Given taxes, cost of living etc, I think you would have minimal disposable income after expenses and that's with going 1-1.5-2 hours outside of the City. Also, with having a child on the way, I think you'd be taking on a big risk at that salary point. At the very least I would say you'd need to be looking at 180-200k as a marker.

I'm interested to know what part of Surrey you're from to offer comparisons that might help? I grew up in Cobham and know most of Surrey very well (I still remember the weekly South Western service train table by heart going into Waterloo, after all these years ;-)

Glasgow Girl

Don’t forget that they each earn about £55K in the UK for a combined total of £110K so if the husband has been offered $130K then that is a good increase. If the OP stays in the UK and works then they will have significant child care costs (unless family provide 100% of the care for free) impacting disposable income. If the OP moves here and cannot work or chooses not to then they save on child care but will still have roughly the same income as they had in the UK. Is that enough, I don’t know because I don’t live in that area. Having a couple of kids is going to impact lifestyle one way or the other. It’s apples to oranges, the real question is how will their new lifestyle (with kids) in the UK compare to their new lifestyle in the US. Add to that what are career prospects for the husband, what value is placed on staying at home with kids but losing career opportunity while doing so, what is motivating them to move over here, and can they cope with family being at a distance. It’s a complex decision, finances are just part of it.

Perhaps talk to some of the other academics and see what they think and advise?