Wintersong

That's the only part that sticks out enough

UK2toUSA

Hello All,

Once again thanks and I am really taking on broad your comments / suggestions your insight is very valuable.

I am moving to USA with my job and I do have a visa.

Onto property taxes taxes - my office is in Philadelphia so we were planning to live in between Princeton and philly. Any suggestion on descent family towns I should be looking with less property taxes.

Thanks

Bob

Usually, any where decent with good schools and the property taxes will be high.

dj6372

Pulaski

Depending on commute times and schools, I'd be looking in PA, as far out of Philly as you can stand to commute.

mrken30

What large grocery stores do you have there? We just have Winco, Kroger, Walmart and Safeway

mrken30

I do love our 6 ft bath even though it uses more water, I don't care. Maybe it will be a selling point if we decide to sell up.

dj6372

I hate this country, I went to the beach and burnt my effin head!

Wish I was in UK

mrken30

The beach here , the only burns you get are wind burn. I did learn about sneaker waves the other day. Not sure if they exist in the UK

NoOfficialComment

I had no idea until recently that if you live in NJ but work in Philly you're subject to an even higher rate of city wage tax. Then you also get slammed with NJs higher property taxes to add to the potential annoyance!

moneypenny20

The expression 'better quality of life' should be banned imo. As you were, I know nothing about the US...

mrken30

There are many situations like that. I moved to WA and worked in OR so I ended up paying OR income tax and WA sales tax.

themadpooper

Was going to say this myself. Can appreciate not everyone lives in a big city like Chicago where we're spoiled for choice, places like Mariano's, for example, which is similar to M&S, and local farmer's markets which are numerous here. However, to use Walmart, which in itself is excellent for bulk buying on a budget, as an example of how bad the food is America is like using Primark as an example of how bad quality clothes are in the UK

cautiousjon

I have lived in the UK for nearly 30 years and in southern California for just over a year.

Some things that I particularly like about where I live in the USA:
- 35% more salary to do the same job (software engineer), which is currently more like 50% due to the significant strengthening of the US Dollar vs British Pound
- Amazing opportunities to do cool stuff in nature, like: snowboarding, skiing, surfing, trail mountain biking, go-karting, parasailing, water skiing, jet skiing, etc, without having to go on a (big) holiday to do it
- Beautiful, warm weather for a lot of the year with low humidity
- Cheap 'petrol' (gas) (even with $2 /gallon CA prices, it's still *far* cheaper than in the UK)
- Better shopping, including stuff that is closer to nature / without chemicals/additives/various other things

Some things that I miss about the UK:
- My family
- Fast, efficient banking system with the (free) ability to send automatic cash transfers to anyone else (I use checks to get around the lack of this in the US).
- Five weeks holiday that does not have to be accrued () (I currently get three weeks, but it has to be accrued)
- Relatively cheap/free healthcare
- Cheap flights to Europe
- Green grass (ha!)
- Getting paid monthly (getting paid bi-weekly is weird - I would rather get paid more money less often, on a fixed date)

As for food, I think that I have as good, if not better choices here in the US:
- Whole Foods
- Trader Joes
- Online sites like US Wellness Meats and Tropical Traditions that offer farm-to-home produce
- Farmers Markets / local mom-and-pop produce stores
- Ubiquity of stores like Costco and Sam's Club
- Other shops that offer the same sort of stuff as Tesco, like Vons, Ralphs, etc

robin1234

I think the food/supermarket comparison between UK and U.S. is largely down to the small size and high population density of the UK. In the U.S., I have to drive 125 miles in one direction to get to Trader Joes or a high quality Whole Foods type market. The nearest Wegmans is 125 miles in the other direction. But here in the UK, I've got Waitrose, M&S, Tesco and Sainsbury all within ten miles. Not to mention specialist Asian and Polish grocery stores etc. Sure, if you live in a remote part of Cornwall or the Scottish Highlands and Islands, you might be deprived of accessible good and/or yummy food. But in the U.S., huge swathes of the population are limited to second rate food stores.