shained

Hey All,

I posted a thread a little while about the possibility of me moving to San Diego and this has now been pretty much signed off.

I wanted to know if there were any locals around with any advice about places to live in the area, cost of living etc.

I will be earning between $45k-50k and will be working in Sorento Valley. So far I have seen places around Poway that seemed reasonable prices compared to over places (circa $1300).

Few questions I had:

I do not have a current UK driving license but have had around 20 hours of official driving lessons and many more unofficial. How easy is it to get a driving license in the U.S and is there a set amount of lessons I need to take?

Keeping with the car subject would it be possible to get a car loan/lease being new to the country. I have searched the forums and this seems like it may be tough due to no U.S credit rating?

I will be supporting my wife to be to begin with but she will be looking for work. Is it a tough market? She has experience in teaching and working in care homes (for children) and nurseries.

Thanks for any advice
Sean

Noorah101

$45 - $50K seems low for San Diego. Have you worked out all the expenses for the two of you, in case your wife doesn't work for a while? She needs to apply for an EAD first (I assume you're on an L visa?).

Rene

Jambodj

Here may be some answers to your driving test Q

http://britishexpats.com/forum/trail...g-test-858365/

shained

From the research I've done it won't be luxurious living for the first few months while my wife tries to get a job. But it looks liveable:

I used a living wage calculate, Living Wage Calculator - Living Wage Calculation for San Diego County, California, which says that with 2 adults and one working you would need $40k minimum.

Yes it would be on an L1-B visa

md95065

To be honest, even though San Diego is not the most expensive place in California, two people trying to live on less than $50,000 is going be an exercise in austerity and survival that is only one step up from poverty.

username.exe

Even in Poway, Chula Vista, National City or Lemon Grove (the cheaper areas) it is going to be very difficult to get by on that salary. Please ensure you have an adequate buffer of savings, for your own sanity.

California has the ability to locate your wallet at all times and relieve you of the contents in a greedy and thoughtless fashion.
The upside is San Diego is my favourite part of the states. It's beautiful. But it won't be pleasant if you feel like you're constantly living hand to mouth.

Getting a drivers license won't be difficult. You'll need to do a multiple guess test (very simple) and a ten minute behind the wheel test. If you don't have a UK license I'd save my money and get a few lessons in the states to prepare you for the US road test.

Not sure whether your wife will need to get licensed for California in order to teach or work in a care home, but likely. You should look into that, and if that's the case you'll probably need more of a $ buffer. Try and get your employer to cover as much of your initial expenses as possible.

Best of luck and congratulations on the transfer.

Ozzidoc

I'd advise not coming on that salary. Seriously. The sunshine tax of Sandy Paygo is high.

That said, if you are a follower of MSE's Martin Lewis, you may be frugal enough to make it work.

PM me who your employer is and we'll do some digging as to the market rate salary. $46K is for a school (uni) leaver at my husbands work in Sorrento Valley.

The 56 can be brutal in the morning, but doable of course. Poway can get stinking hot.

Carmel Valley is probably out of your budget. UTC-LJ might have a one bedroom condo that suits what you are looking for.

Your wife will need credentialing in the areas of work you have listed. Is she literate in any other languages?

Good luck and feel free to PM me as a prompt to return to this thread.

Ozzidoc

PS - congrats on the marriage!

scrubbedexpat099

You need 2 cars

Pulaski

You haven't searched very hard because International Autosource is the answer, or it would be if you earned enough, because on the money you mention I think you're going to need to look at used cars - perhaps even of the "buy here - pay here" type, where credit is easier to come by, but the interest rates will be higher.

The sort of work your wife does is going to pay very badly as all she has, from an American employer's perspective, is experience. I don't see her getting more than about $20k as an unqualified carer. It would take 2-4 years, and possibly some pricy college classes, to start getting US childcare qualifications.

I'd be very wary about accepting at face value what is acceptable household income from a government web site, because those on low income find themselves either living in very poor quality housing and/or rough parts of town, or spend 50% or more of their income on rent to live in more acceptable and/or safer accommodation.

TimFountain

At $50k I would think VERY hard about whether it is worth it. SD is super expensive. I agree with the other poster who said $50K is austere bordering on poverty and they weren't BS'ing.

sir_eccles

For some perspective, according to the census data, media household income in San Diego county is around 62k (nationally the figure is about 52k).

San Diego County QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau

scrubbedexpat099

What if excluding those who have moved for work using unconventional means.

Novocastrian

Surely that's Hollywood?

<sorry, just passing by>

Edit: On a more serious and perhaps more relevant, note I've just been messing with one of those inflation calculators and discovered that when we (2) moved to Riverside in 1977, our household income was the equivalent of $52K in 2015 $$.

Luckily, I got a 42% wage increase in 1978 or we wouldn't have survived.

HTH

sir_eccles

Hollywood is LA county I think (according to the census 55k median, Orange county between LA and SD counties has a 75k median).