kakkaroto

Hi, I'm new to these forums and am looking for a bit of guidance, I am married to a USC and am looking into the possibility of relocation to the USA, I currently work as an ICT Engineer (Systems Admin and VMWare Engineer) in London making a little over £32k and I do not have a degree but do have some relevant certification (all USA based).

Now cut a long story short what I wanted to know is if $60-$65k would be a fair amount for someone working in my field?
And secondly would it be enough to support two people?

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Hotscot

There are probably some mid western and southern towns where that amount of money would be survivable however generally it's extremely low for a professional. And because of other costs/taxes etc you generally struggle to get by.

Being poor in America is very tough. Very little safety net.

Bob

glassdoor and salary.com should give you an idea for the going rate for the area.

Getting a job will all be about who you know because it'll be hard work without a degree and no US experience.

Money expectations seem a bit low, especially for a big city but I guess it depends on your experience etc.

tonrob

I remember a particularly insightful thread about Houston.

kakkaroto

Any advice on the minimum I should be looking for being an IT professional with 9+ years of experience?

I've tried looking online but majority of the listings don't give the salary.

Could you provide a link please? I did search before posting but there were far too many results and I couldn't find anything specific.

christmasoompa

I suspect Tonrob means this one - take 'insightful' with a pinch of salt.

http://britishexpats.com/forum/trail...it-not-607620/

hungryhorace

How old are you is my first question?

kakkaroto

34

hungryhorace

Ok, to address your questions:

$60-65k seems about right given your current pay grade in London. I'd expect you to be on around £25-27k outside of London (but still in SE).

Can you survive on 65k? Well, you're surviving on £32k right now, and you work (live?) in one of the most expensive cities on earth. So I'd say you probably could. You would need to be mindful of things like out of pocket costs here and medical premiums taken from your pay each month.

The problem you have in asking in a forum here concerning wages, imo, is that a lot of us have moved over on $100-150k salary packages so what we consider we could 'live' off is drastically different to what someone on, say, $50k could.

Personally, I think it's doable if you're not going to live in CA or NYC.

kakkaroto

Thanks for your reply, the city I had in mind is Houston as I have family there.

The whole point of asking in a forum is to get opinions from all sorts of people who have done the move I am potentially going to make, though I do see your point.

The thing is £32k in London while above average (and as you probably know) doesn't get you very far, I guess what it boils down to is will $65k in Houston improve my quality of life over what I have in London (I realize no one actually knows my quality oif life here) or to simplify it down further what would you (or anyone else here) choose? £32k in London or $65k in houston???

Oh and for clarity the reason I'm quoting $65k is because this was the salary for a job that a recruitment guy called me about, he assumed I was in the USA.

Hotscot

Have a look at the city data website.

christmasoompa

It's above average for the UK (which is about $27k I believe), but below average for London. City bonus cut leads to drop in average pay in London - London - News - London Evening Standard

It definitely doesn't go far there though!

Weeze

IMO it's not a lot of money to try and support two people in Houston, no. I'm sure many people do it. The lack of security would worry me. In the UK you don't have to worry about medical bills and there is more support if you find yourself sick or out of work.

hungryhorace

I wouldn't work in London for £32k. It would need to be 80k+ *minimum*.

Mr Weeze

Have a look at these two threads:

http://britishexpats.com/forum/usa-5...ouston-836377/

http://britishexpats.com/forum/usa-5...ouston-834864/