sultanoflondon

Hi all,

Just wondering about the above comparison, including the factor of annual leave. You get less of it in the US, but do you actually get more salary? How much? Can someone compare an NHS job to a US healthcare job or some kind of similar comparison?

Thanks!

Bink

I can only compare my company (offshore engineering) and the Houston - London salaries so not sure how helpful it will be but will post it anyway!

The guys in the US (as an average) make about 50% more than the guys in London but get half the annual leave.

Pulaski

There is no one size fits all comparison, there are way too many variables. One person might move from, say, Northumberland to New York and report a salary increase. Someone else in the same occupation might move from London to Little Rock, Arkansas, and report a reduction in salary.

The exchange rate used is an additional random variable that has no short, or even medium, term impact on pay in either country, yet since I came here the $/£ rate has been as low as 1.3 and as high as 2, which has significantly altered the answer to the "are you paid more, or less?" question over the time I've been here.

Bink

A more important question would be how would my quality of life change as a result of the move.

Hotscot

But we don't know anything about the quality of your life or how you measure it.

(I live in sunny California with access to great beaches, mountains, deserts etc...but it hardly rains and I miss the rain very much. So in that respect the quality of my life has reduced slightly.)

You've been asking about salaries and vacation times in various threads.
Care to indicate what all this boils down to?

If you have an opportunity let us know and we'll indicate if the package is appropriate for the area you'll be living in. It's all relative.

But only you can decide on the quality of your life.

Michael

The cost of housing in New York City and the Silicon Valley are both very expensive but the medium family income (half make more and half make less) in the Silicon Valley is about double that of New York City.

christmasoompa

Surely it depends on where you're coming from and to? Somebody working in Stoke on Trent and moving to NYC would expect a considerable salary increase, somebody working in London and moving to a rural area of the US would expect the opposite.

It's a bit of a 'how long is a piece of string' question tbh, unless you actually have a job and two locations in mind?

markonline1

Whereas I don't miss the rain so I love it. I've taken a massive hit in wages, massive hit in annual leave, have left the job I worked hard to secure in the UK, the job I had wanted since I left school, and yet still feel my quality of life has improved a million per cent. Wouldn't change things for anything at the moment!

Pulaski

Er, you appear to have paraphrased post #3, above.

Hotscot

And I'm too far from my favorite Indian takeaway...
http://www.theclayoven.net/

SultanOfSwing

You should copyright your posts

I pause to add that I almost called you 'Jezza' there. You and he have become one, it would seem

NatashaB

When we moved, we both continued working for the same employer who converted our salaries from pounds to dollars at a rate of $1.50 to the pound - reasonably generous based on the exchange rate at the time. Certainly our salaries bought us a lot more here than in the UK - but looking at what colleagues are on I would say we're at the low end of the salary scale and we should have asked for an extra 1/3 on top to bring us into line with them.

markonline1

I'll agree, I do miss a good curry. I've yet to find a decent one over here!

NatashaB

Now that's just cruel. I miss curry! You can't put a price on good curry. I would happily take a paycut for that.

SultanOfSwing

You might as well ask what the salary is on Venus though, for all the good the answers will do you.

I make (quite a bit) more, after the exchange rate is applied, than I did in the UK, probably even if I were still there and had actually made it to executive officer grade or higher. However, for all I know, I am paid below average within my field. In the company, I'm pretty much in the middle.

Factor in the massive variation in the cost of living even within a state and you might as well forget comparing anything

I can get a great curry not five miles from my gaff ...