scot47

It can be hard to have a dream shattered !

Noorah101

Plus, wouldn't she need permission from the children's father to move them to the USA?

Rene

Jerseygirl

IMO the OP read about the job or heard about it from someone and thought ‘I could do that’, without knowing about the obstacles.

tht

Calculating the taxes is actually one of the easier things to do. While the IRS calculators don’t do the state and local tools like this do, you then need to know what will be dedicated pre tax for healthcare and lower the income by that. This will give you a conservative estimate. Any credits will all be in your favor like for children or childcare costs etc.

https://smartasset.com/taxes/income-taxes#8NCto8RRcL

backing out the $35k implies a salary of $45k gross before healthcare benefit deductions if they are even offered.

But I agree with your main point, we have 2 young children and as you note the childcare costs a lot. When you add in sick kids or parents the only way we make it through is my wife’s family who are less than 3h drive away coming to stay/help. The model over here is not set-up to support solo parents like it is in other countries.

notaclue

I'm thrifty and couldn't live on $45,000 a year!

steph0scope

I’m very surprised to see a job in Portland being offered on such a low salary. I don’t live in Portland but not far away. That’s a poverty-level wage in this part of the world. We are two adults and a three-year-old and there’s no way we could even pay our basic outgoings on that knowing the cost of living in Portland.

OP, why Portland? Have you been there? Do you know someone there? If you know someone who lives in the city itself, especially someone with young children, run the figures by them and see what they say.

petitefrancaise

for most people, housing is their biggest expense and whilst I don't know the rental market in Oregon, here in Austin you'd struggle to get approved for a rent more than 30% of your gross salary. If the OP's salary is $45K gross, then that would be around $1300 per month for rent.

What can she rent for that amount as maximum? I looked on zillow.com and for that rent for a 2 bedroom - they all seemed to be lower-end apartment buildings in one particular part of Portland which suggests not the best area. With a net salary of $35k, her available income after a $1300 rent would be a shade under $1700 which I wouldn't want to live on with 2 young kids. Especially considering health care costs not factored in.
MrsBell, as you might surmise from my username, I have lived in France and I was there for over 10 years. Take it from me, France is a much better place to be on a low income with kids than the USA. You get much more help financially from the state.
It also sounds like your ex should be paying child maintenance and if he stops paying when you move to the USA, I don't know how on earth you would enforce anything.
Also, already mentioned is the FACT that you must have the children's father's permission to move them here. Especially coming from France which takes the children's rights to have both parents involved in their upbringing very seriously indeed.

Pulaski

Here is an example of what your budget might look like, updated and tweaked from a post I made several years ago.

Net pay of $2,900/mth ($35k/yr) might go something like this: you might get lucky and find somewhere that is acceptable for $1,000, but I am not familiar with Portland and I suspect that won't get much for that. Then a vehicle: finance on a vehicle say $400/mth in loans, but insurance is pricy to start with, so could be $200/mth, then tax, serving, inspection and registration another $25/mth (average), petrol is cheap, but you'll find you use a lot more, so a tank full per vehicle every two weeks would be $75/mth. Food and household consumables will cost more in the US than you'd expect, for three of you probably around $750/mth, certainly not much less than that. Utilities: tend to be more than in the UK, and you're probably looking at average of $75/mth year round average for assuming an apartment (double that for a house), Health insurance isn't quite what it seems, so allow $300/month for out of pocket expenditures (copays and deductibles), which would probably get you a GP appointment and a prescription copay.

If my mental arithmetic is correct we have got a total of $2,825/mth, leaving $75/mth for clothing, meals out/ entertainment, holidays/ traveling home to the UK/ France, and everything else, including cell phone, and cable TV. Looking back at the numbers, even if you and your children are super-healthy and rarely go to see a doctor, and are super-careful with your food and household consumables, you'd only have maybe $500 "extra" and that wouldn't cover child care, which isn't even in my draft budget above!

Honestly rent on an acceptable home is the biggest issue you may face - you can "go cheap" but might not like it, or pay more and risk a budget crisis.