We both understand the quality of life is quite a bit different and the salaries are much lower, I guess what I am wanting to know is how much money do you need to make to live comfortably each month on an average.
Cad
In response to the above, this is very dependent on where you decide to move to. You will need a lot more money in say London, than say a small village in the north. In short, England is the opposite to the US, as property prices in the southeast generally exceed those in the north.
The big issue in England concerning the quality of living is the affordability of housing, so there is no straight answer to your question. It really depends where you live. I would recommend that you have a look at:
www.rightmove.co.uk and
www.fish4homes.co.uk In terms of salaries, generally speaking, $1 spends the same as 1 GBP. For example, if one makes $40,000 in America, you would have pretty much the same buying power as 40,000 GBP. I like the Gap Jeans example I saw posted somewhere else--if a pair of Gap jeans sells for $19.99 in the US, it usually sells for 19.99 GBP in the UK.
On the basis that you have the finances available to make the move and your husband can command the required salary based on your housing requirements, my only advice would be not to burn all bridges in the US if all possible (i.e. renting your house instead of selling it).
This plan also coincides with the fact that the dollar is at an all time low. If you do have equity in your house and other money behind you, it will transfer into the lowest amount of Pound Sterling in the last 10 years.
If you do decide that you love it in England and wish to settle there, and the delay of sale of your house has cost you some money, that may be made up if the dollar recovers.
In short, a move to England can be very rewarding. As stated, it would be a different experience and adventure all together. Having Europe on your doorstep is great for weekend trips, etc. We can thoroughly recommend Paris for a weekend. It does make a refreshing change to have different cultures and architecture within a couple of hours of plane ride as opposed to the same old same old you get in the US.
As someone has already said, there are things that might have to be compromised (i.e. large house and car), but the experiences that can be had can make up for those things.
Hope this helps (my husband and I have been over the pros and cons of each country many times as I am sure many members have).
Jenny (with some help from husband Andy who added a couple of opinions to this post)