Relocating to US from UK
 

Hi all,

Hope you are all well.

I will potentially be relocating to the US from UK in the next 24 months through work, hopefully!

Potential locations include -

Texas
New York
Alaska
Washington
Massachusetts

Ideally we are aiming for Texas/New York.., does anyone have any experience of living in/around these areas? I understand the general cost of living will differ greatly between them, but just any general advice would be appreciated!

Thank you

Re: Relocating to US from UK
 

First question - if it’s through work, are you looking at a specific city or area within New York or Texas? Both are very varied states!

Re: Relocating to US from UK
 

Probably nothing specific as of yet, no. Fortunately (more so on the Texas route) company HQ is based there, so there's a lot of scope potentially to move to any area there. We've looked at Houston/San Antonio/Dallas etc.

For New York, not so much. The work would mainly be central NY based, so would have to be somwhere with decent travel/access into the City, can appreciate that is easier said than done there though!

Re: Relocating to US from UK
 

Huge cost of living, and lifestyle differences in those! What’s the extra percentage you’d get salary wise for the higher cost states?

I live in MA, and personally wouldn’t consider living in TX or AK. WA at a push, the only other state I’d happily move to on your list would be NY. But that’s me and my personal circumstances. We were given the choice of any state in America with our company move, but thankfully it was fairly easy for us to choose.

What kind of lifestyle/climate/culture would you want? How old are you, is a young community and nightlife important to you, or are you in your 60’s and want a quieter life? What do you like to do in your free time (or what would you like to do - if for example, you’ve always wanted to take up skiing, then TX probably isn’t ideal). Who is ‘we’ - spouse (if so, what do they do? And is one location better for opportunities in their field than others?), kids (if so, are any of them at a crucial schooling age?)? Is being able to get back to the UK easily (or anywhere else in the world) important to you? Consider politics too, particularly at the moment.

Presumably the company will pay for a reccie trip as part of your relocation package. Maybe see if they’ll consider paying for two so you can narrow it down and then visit the two front runners.

Re: Relocating to US from UK
 

Thanks for the reply!

So the salaries vary from state to state as I'm sure you can imagine, but for my role in general (and I haven't checked all of the same roles in different states) but it's roughly -

Annual Salaries -
Texas - $145,000 - 160,000
New York - $105,000 - 160,000
Washington - $102,000 - 125,000

That's the rough base line of what it would be, some are a bit higher and it would depend what project I was assigned to ultimately as well as there could be a higher percentage again. From my experience level I would be at the higher end, I'm also just doing a rough average as until I took one of the roles, I haven't got a guaranteed figure.

I've spoken to a few colleagues who work in Texas as this is where the HQ is based and most of them enjoy it for various reasons, for us it would be my partner and child, child enjoys the outdoors activities, parks etc, and partner enjoys similar things, as long as she has easy access to shops and sites then she is fairly happy.

For us as a family, ideally we want somewhere that has a lot of variety on what we can do in our free time and plenty of places to go. Ideally somewhere with fairly low crime in comparison, and somewhere with good schools/community really. Getting back to the UK is not massively important, I think the option to come back to visit family etc would always be there. For the Visa option I have through the company we would be eligible for a Green card after 12 months, the Visa it's self lasts for 7 years.

Re: Relocating to US from UK
 

I’d take NY off your list, I think you’d massively struggle on that salary. Not sure about TX or WA but they still seem low to me. Hopefully others in those areas will comment though. If this is just your research on what you think you could get, I’d ask the company for a lot more details of exactly what salary you’d be on in each location, but also what kind of healthcare cost you would have, and what kind of relocation package you would get. As those will be factors to consider as well.

If you’d at least want the option of coming back to the UK to visit family then I’d also discount AK. It would be a mammoth undertaking getting there from that location! I live in Boston, and I love the fact that I can be back in the UK door to door in just 7/8 hours. I fly backwards and forwards every other month, and it’s just no hassle. It also means our family and friends come and see us a lot, as it’s easy and cheap for them to do so. I’m pretty sure that if we’d moved to Alaska, we’d never have had any visitors!

Also check to see which category of green card you would be eligible for, as some can take many many years to get. We got ours in about five months from start to finish, the company applied before we left the UK, so we landed as permanent residents. But that was the quickest category.

And lastly, you mentioned partner, just in case that means you’re not married, you’re aware you would need to be for him/her to accompany you?

Re: Relocating to US from UK
 

I've done a bit more research on the Texas side but that was mainly because that was one of the first places that was mentioned. Salary wise it works out quite well there for the housing prices etc. Fortunately with my company as well it's decent benefits which all factors in. Just doing a very rough number crunch, I think as a medium and lower end figure, I would have around $10,000 per month after taxes and so on. Most of the properties we checked on line were in the range of $1900-3200 per month. (Less so around NY).

But yes, unfortunately I've only got rough estimates to work off at the moment.

And yes! Wedding is booked in for March next year so that worked out well when we booked it last year haha.

On the Visa side, from the discussions I've had I think they like to give you 12 months before you apply for a green card to give you enough time to see if you want to remain where you are, or move to another project in another location etc. Or back home all together. I'm assuming in the past they have applied for permanent residency for people who have then returned to their home countries which has come at the companies expense.

Re: Relocating to US from UK
 

That's good. No idea on if that budget would give you decent properties, but again those in the know will be able to help. There are lots of members in Texas, might also be worth doing a search to see if you can find any other threads on the cost of living there. Good benefits are vital, but do check on the healthcare cost as that can still run in to thousands for a family each month, depending on how generous your employer is. And the relocation package will be key, our relocation cost something like £40k so you want to make sure that's at the company's expense and not yours. I'm guessing that if you're going to be petitioned for a green card it's a permanent move, not an expat assignment, so you won't get house/car etc paid for, but you still want to make sure you're not out of pocket. The waiting 12 months for a GC makes perfect sense, and is pretty standard. We just didn't have time to wait as I needed to work (run my own businesses in the UK that I didn't want to give up), plus we moved with 16 and 18 year olds that also wanted to work, so we had to have green cards straight away.

As above, I'd search for info on Texas as you'll find tons of threads about life there. Best of luck with the move planning!

Re: Relocating to US from UK
 

Thank you! I've asked the question about the relocation package etc to work, just waiting on a reply back and see what comes of it. Ill probably pop back and forward on here as things develop, and as you say, do some further research.

Thanks again for your help, much appreciated.

Re: Relocating to US from UK
 

New York State is a large state and living in Central New York will not allow you to easily commute to NYC for work. NYC is in the lower part of New York State so you would want to live in one of the suburbs of NYC, i.e. Westchester County or even in Connecticut or coastal New Jersey for an easy commute to New York City.

Re: Relocating to US from UK
 

I lived in Texas for most of my 20+ years in the US before moving back to Scotland. Depending on your tolerance for heat, "outdoors activities" might be more of a challenge than you think. I personally loved San Antonio because it felt more like a "town" than a city. Dallas was more of a challenge but there's enough variety of neighbourhoods that most folks would find somewhere to fit. Just be aware that in places like Dallas and Houston (not sure about Austin) many folks struggle to find the the neighbourhood / school district they want within a reasonable commute to work. When I was in Dallas, 45-60 minute one way drive was fairly common for the folks in my team who had kids. Something to have a specific convesation with your Texas colleagues about.

Re: Relocating to US from UK
 

I lived in New York and worked in New York City and up until 8 years ago I lived quite nicely on just under $100K a year. Not everyone needs a big house in a tony suburb. Depends on what you want from life and actually, what you expect from life. I expected to live comfortably, with a great commute to the city for employment and extra monies for good vacations.

PS BTW a partner will not be included in your immigration. Only a spouse will be given a visa to live in the US with you.

Re: Relocating to US from UK
 

Roughly $132k/year in today’s value.

Re: Relocating to US from UK
 

I lived in Austin for a couple of years. It’s a great place, unique and interesting with lots of outside things to do. It’s the only place in Texas I would want to live. Most of Texas is flat and boring. All of it is extremely hot. Although it did snow in Austin once while I was there, that was extremely unusual. I was surprised how much I missed the seasons because spring and fall last for about 2 weeks each. Other than that it is blazing hot sunshine which becomes tiresome after a while If you consider Texas. make sure you understand how hot it is going to be, and the cost of running A/C year round in high temperatures, that can be substantial.

Re: Relocating to US from UK
 

$132k per year is not very much in NYC anymore, especially for someone relocating from the UK. That's approx $6k per month in NYC (Federal, State and NYC local), which means to spend 33% of income on rent that's $2k, which is about half the average rent for a 1 bedroom. https://www.apartments.com/rent-mark...s/new-york-ny/ (that's with no 401(k) etc.). Even at the top of OPs range - NYC is a stretch for a single person.

Of course many many people get away with less in NYC, but they didn't move from the UK and probably have a rent stablized apartment at a reasonable rate.

Re: Relocating to US from UK
 

If the OP were single, it may be doable. But not with a family to support IMO.

Re: Relocating to US from UK
 

I live in socal and have children working in CA tech companies. If location for Washington is around Seattle, the salary would not support a family's reasonably comfortable life. A fresh new grad working in tech easily earn more than that and Seattle is one of the tech concentrated cities. This pushes up rent and house price significantly. In fact lots of families have two earners working in tech and over 250k/yr each is fairly common and they don't generally think they are wealthy. In cities where many tech companies tend to locate, their employee salaries are well above average people, which includes like SF/Bay area, west LA, NY City, Boston and of course Seattle, even Austin though it is considered much affordable (by tech industry standard).

As some comments already mentioned, TX living costs are much lower but the hot weather is a challenge even for local people. Months after months of daily temp over 36C plus humidity makes enjoying outdoor activities a luxury except swimming. Mosquito is more than annoyance in many places due to humid weather for half of the year. You need to run AC non-stop for weeks if not months because otherwise mould would destroy stuff in home. On the other hand late autumn to spring is nice without snow. I would suggest spend a couple of weeks during summer (May to Sept) to get real feeling of it first.

Re: Relocating to US from UK
 

Texas probably the best bet, though for Washington if eastern Washington it is very nice part of the country for a family, NY can be expensive.

Re: Relocating to US from UK
 

Thanks everyone.

I will see if I can get a more confirmed number on potential salaries and then come back and hopefully that will help a little bit, but the feedback has helped greatly, thanks all.

Re: Relocating to US from UK
 

For the last 13 years of our time in the USA we lived in The Woodlands, just north of Houston and where many large corporations have their headquarters. Very nice place, population about 120,000 and very well laid out, a series of “villages” around a town center. We had adult children so can’t comment on the schools there. Our daughter went to university in Austin and she worked there for a few years afterwards. Both Austin and The Woodlands were good places to live but I much preferred Austin.

Re: Relocating to US from UK
 

Whatever was I thinking. I know, I was thinking as an American with only a college degree who worked in an industry unrelated to the degree. Shame on me for assuming foreigners might be comfortable with my way of life.

Re: Relocating to US from UK
 

The issue is, compared to your experience, someone moving internationally automatically has a higher cost of living than a local. Most Brits assume America is cheap, partially a hangover from the £2:$1 exchange rate of 20 years ago. Plus, no one moves across the world to merely scrape by.

• Unaware of the cost of certain items, for example groceries anywhere around NYC is enormously more expensive than the UK
• The cost of travelling home occasionally to visit friends and family
• Budgeting for healthcare costs which you've never had to do before - even with good employer insurance
• Not having a network of friends/family to help share the costs of things (for example, most Americans I know split their cell phone plan with someone else).
• The physical cost of moving and starting from scratch is very expensive.
• Visa restrictions can mean that there's only one person in the family who can work (i.e. H4)

Finally, there's no way you could buy any reasonable housing within a decent commute of Manhattan on a $100k single salary - you'll probably find even as an American starting again you'd be unable to afford even a modest lifestyle.

Re: Relocating to US from UK
 

It's not that, it's that it costs a LOT more for expats when they first move. No credit rating, huge deposits, set up costs, not knowing where to go to shop around, etc, etc.

So the same way of life that you had for $100k may well cost the OP double that by the time everything else is factored in, including being a family of 3.

Re: Relocating to US from UK
 

So, managed to get some better information on the salaries, so this ranges from -

Texas - $185,750
New York $170,500 - $250,000 (depending on area)

Others -
Washington
California
San Fran

All range from around $160,000 - $200,000

Re: Relocating to US from UK
 

Those sound more realistic (maybe not SF). As a very rough rule, I'd say most things cost 3 times what they do in the UK, but I'm in a higher cost state. But if you work on 2-3 times your UK salary for a similar standard of living (depending on location), that should give you a good idea.

Good luck.

Re: Relocating to US from UK
 

Yeah, one of the Vice Presidents of the company lives in San Fran and told me it was incredibly expensive lol.

But yeah, its a bit more of a bettet estimation to work from I think as a general guide anyway.

Re: Relocating to US from UK
 

Agree with 2-3x, that works as a general estimate for most day-to-day, groceries (eye-watering), travel. Petrol is much cheaper, but insurance, car prices and services more than outweigh it.
As mentioned healthcare will go from 0 to meaningful. My insurance costs me around $5k/year for me an my wife via payroll deductions even if we don't need anything. This year we'll probably spend another $5k because we did need some care.
Watch out for property taxes, often not at all comparable to UK council tax. e.g many areas commutable to NYC like NJ or Westchester are 10-15x what you'd pay in a London suburb. You don't pay this as a renter but if you are evaluating becoming a homeowner and browsing sold properties on Zillow, check the tax amount too.

Re: Relocating to US from UK
 

I might have missed it, but are you talking about Washington (the state) or Washington, D.C. (the nation's capital)?

Re: Relocating to US from UK
 

The salary for TX seems reasonable, which make it feasible to choose rent or buying. For the other 3 locations, under 200k is not enough for a generally acceptable living of family of 3 though. As I mentioned in first message above, lots of families have two earners working in tech and over 250k/yr each is fairly common. They are willing to pay higher rent and bid higher prices when buying a home within commuting distances. It's a weird situation in SF/Bay area where final selling price of a home could be 50% higher than initial asking that is at least $1.5m, which shows the competition and that people can afford $1m+ mortgage with their income.

Re: Relocating to US from UK
 

There are always articles on this, this one at least acknowledges that you can “get by” on half of what you need to “live comfortably” and it’s right that rent is more than a mortgage, I had to buy in NYC because the rent was to high…

https://nypost.com/2025/10/11/lifest...ill-shock-you/

Re: Relocating to US from UK
 

If it is eastern Washington, a much better location for a family, the quoted salary more than enough,

Bay Area prices are insane , and San Francisco hardly the desirable location it used to be when I lived in Bay Area, and fr a while working in San Francisco.

Re: Relocating to US from UK
 

Both, ironically. Haha

For the purpose of this post, it was Washington/Seattle

But Washington D.C is also available for a posting with a salary of around $200,000.

Also for the Visa, it would be an L1-A.

Re: Relocating to US from UK
 

With all due respect, you were a local with a long-established home and life in New York.

My experience as an expat who moved to New York in 2001 was very different. I was paid "a little under $100k", and my wife also worked, though was unable to find a permanent position. And my life was utterly miserable!!!

We were unable to find a house to buy within our budget, and we're weren't looking for a mansion in a swanky neighborhood, just a home that wasn't a bombed out wreck in a neighborhood that wasn't littered with boarded up buildings. Towards the end of our search we were looking at homes over 2 hours (each way) from my office! .... Then the reality of property taxes of $800-$1,000 per month hit us, that we had been looking at houses that were going to be an extreme stretch to pay for. If we had stayed and tried to make it work I would have been working entirely to pay the mortgage and property taxes, and spending all my day either working, commuting, or sleeping, with weekends spent trying to catch up on sleep.

The situation was extremely stressful, causing severely disrupted sleep. There were other reasons why the situation was untenable.

That was why, after 8 months of trying to find a way to make things work, for the first and only time in my life I quit my job without having another job to go to. We packed up our stuff and left New York.

A few years ago, here on BE, I discussed $200k as the barest minimum salary for someone looking to establish a long term home in the greater NYC area. For a 2-3 year secondment, and career advancement, less would work, especially if you're single. But today, I wouldn't recommend trying to establish a home in the greater New York City area on less than $250k/yr at an absolute minimum.

Re: Relocating to US from UK
 

This survey came out earlier this year and we discussed it on the forum, for my location (Boston) the amount given is pretty much spot on IMO, so it may be useful for the places you're looking at too - https://smartasset.com/data-studies/...mfortably-2025

Re: Relocating to US from UK
 

Thanks for this. Makes an interesting read. I dare say from the general comments etc, Texas seems to be the safe bet, but that also opens up a lot of options.

Re: Relocating to US from UK
 

Interesting data!
Passes the gut-check.
Obviously lots of variation in circumstances. Childcare is one. Taking the NYC number of $306k for a family of four, if you have one high earner and one SAH parent that's a lot more comfortable than two working parents and around $50k in daycare costs. Also tax. If you own a home you can deduct mortgage interest on balances up to 750k and property taxes up to new SALT limits which could easily save you $20k in taxes (6% $750k mortgage - a $1m home is modest in these parts, and $20k property taxes). Likewise interesting to see Seattle higher than NYC since WA has no state income tax.

Everyone's definition of comfortable also obviously varies. Personally that includes at least maxing 401ks, and hopefully saving some more on-top. But we also only have one old reliable car that we own outright, while most Americans would I think define comfortable as two cars, with one or both on the luxury end and probably financed. (Although NYC-dwellers may be the only exception to that).

It also backs-up what some other posters said. Seattle is near the top, but Spokane is one of the most affordable. Locality matters as much as state.

The good news is, if it's only temporary then at least you don't have to worry about two of the existential worries: college and healthcare (especially if you don't want to work to 65).

Re: Relocating to US from UK
 

So just done some rough numbers, with taxes, medicare etc, im probably looking at around $10,000 per month after taxes. Obviously this could vary to more or less. But I will use that as a base line.

To be "comfortable" or to match our current lifestyle here, I think if we could get a house either via mortgage/rent for with bills included for around $4000/4500 per month, add a vehicle ontop for around $1000 per month (not including fuel), and then add general food shopping and extras on top for around $2000 per month, that leaves about $2000 plus change left.

Also my partner (will be married by this point) will be working also. She works in care so just again worked off the low end of her making around $2500 a month.
Add the 401 into etc, and insurance. Again, not entirely sure what my employer assists towards.

Will hopefully have some better info in the next month or so.

Again, all very rough calculations, but I would say Texas looks to be the best bet. So far, out of the upcoming locations available anyway.

Interesting to read about the others though. Opens some doors potentially.

Re: Relocating to US from UK
 

You mentioned a family and looking for good schools - did you factor in childcare costs?

Re: Relocating to US from UK
 

Its probably something we can avoid for a while. At the moment here we work it where my partner works weekends, so I look after our kid, then vice versa I work through the week and she will look after him. My work pattern wouldn't change, so it would be finding a part time job for her on weekends which I would assume there is a few around, especially in care.

Again I am assuming most Tuition fees would be when our kid comes of college age, I'm guessing?

Re: Relocating to US from UK
 

Don't underestimate add-on fees for a child in a public (state-funded) school - the cost of participation in various programs including, but not limited to, team or individual sports, and band/ orchestra, can be considerably greater than in the UK.

Have you looked into what sort of registration/ licensing your partner might require to be able to work in "care"? (Sorry, I haven't read the entire thread, so I'm not sure exactly what she does.)

It is not uncommon for some sort of formal training and registration to be required for some jobs which have lower requirements in the UK. And once you step up to tiers of trained and registered care and nursing staff, the requirements can be even greater. For example in the US the nursing profession is mostly if not entirely, composed of staff with a bachelor's degree in nursing.