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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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).

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.

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

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?

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.

Fortunately there is no "formal" training required to be a Care Giver, most of the job adverts etc and what we have read all say that you need relevant experience in the industry etc, to then move onto Nursing etc, then you need more formal qualifications as you say, but as a general carer as such, its mainly experience based + finishing GED/High-school.

What you need to find out is what your employer will take for your healthcare. That will be on top of your other deductions, so it's a vital question to ask.

$2000 a month is fine for food, but not sure you'll get a car for $1000 a month with insurance costs as a new arrival. I'd double that personally.

Other costs that will need to come out of that remaining $2000 will be other healthcare costs (i.e. co-pays), insurances (house/life etc), utilities, mobile phone, subscriptions, and your child's activities/school (as above, much more expensive than the UK - no free after school clubs!).

I'm paying about $240/mth for medical insurance for my daughter and myself, and that is very much at the low end, because it's for a high deductible policy, meaning that I pay the first $2½k of costs for each of us. So I could potentially have to pay $5k out of pocket before insurance pays out anything (other than mandated things like vaccinations and an annual physical). For "traditional" (low deductible) health insurance coverage it would be 4-5 times as much per month!

Yes $670/month for me, spouse and child (though extra children don't cost more) for a $0 deductible policy with $7,500 out of pocket max (copays tend to be $30-60, $1k for a hospital stay).
Plus about $55/month for vision and dental.
But it is pre-tax or in UK terminology it's salary sacrifice.

I would recommend factoring in potential that tuition for children might need to be necessary depending on quality of local schools whether academically or safety concerns, and especially if future plans are for children to return to UK for university. There is a big focus in American high schools on "fun time". I certainly would not recommend moving to SF Bay Area with children.