salary equivalencies

I am very concerned about salary equivalencies.  It seems like rents/property values are about the same in the areas I might live (suburban London and Edinburgh-though Edinburgh a little cheaper) as I am experiencing here in Washington, DC.  But it appears cars are WAY more expensive as are some other things. Therefore, any advice on, if I make $107K here and I want to make the equivalent of $125-150K over there, what I should use as a guide over there in pounds?  They have talked 90K pounds but I am not sure 90K is enough given higher costs.

Thanks
John

i live in central london

my husband and i make, combined, about 90K sterling in base salary.  do i think i'm living like we make 150K in the USA?  Nope.

90k is a great salary as many will tell you here, across the UK it's not easy to find work that high....so just keep doing your research on here!

Remember that if you live in central London you will have access to good public transportation so you may not need a car as much.

edit: Oh never mind. I mixed up the two posts above. The OP said she was planning to live in the suburbs.

also are you bringing over family or anything?  i mean, that is still a great salary as i've said before...it's just a matter of how wealthy you want to feel....

i can't comment on edinburgh, but london is very expensive. the latest international ranking puts london at 5th most expensive in the world, and i think DC falls in the 80's, so you should expect a big difference in everything.  there are some (paid) sites that help you with particulars, i think even salary comparisons, just google international cost of living.

Hiya!

What field of work are you in? - 'Generally speaking' - there are very few jobs paying £75-90K - I'd say the financial and legal industry have these levels of pay. Any other area, pay as high as that is very uncommon.

Have a look around the other sections of the site, and check out some other posts, mainly the 'on the job' section. Overall, pretty much for most things the UK is between 30-70% more expensive.

If you've been offered a job at £90K - you will live very comfortably indeed, the UK average is £23K - even in Central & Greater London, that put's you right up in the upper brackets of income (take home pay would be around the £60K mark).

Specifics are what you know, family commitments, single, part of a couple, what you want in terms of quality of life etc - so only you can tell if 60,000 is 'enough' for you or not!

Cheers! Dennis! West London UK!

Thanks for all the replies.

Well I certainly won't take less than 90K.  And that is the number we have agreed is about where we both are comfy, the employer and I.  I'd like a nice house, country-ish with a large lot, something middle class (which, from by Brit gf, I have learned really mean upper middle class in US terms), a nice car, say a Audi A4 Avant or similar, and plenty of disposable income.  So as you can see single but shge will liklely move back to UK with me, somewhat reluctantly, and I have 2 dogs 2 cats.

Again, employer said 90K there is like 150K US, I doubt it.

John

Hi!

Where is your job based? or are you lucky enough to have one of those jobs where you can choose to live anywhere/work from home ?!

As said previously, where you have the house is probably whats going to be the biggest element in you 'feeling' like you have the lifestyle $150K in the US. If you buy/rent in Central London, it may not quite be to the level you are used to, buy/rent pretty much anywhere else in the UK and it will feel like you have more 'value for money'

Good luck!

Dennis! West London UK!

London or not, you can live very comfortably on £90k.

I guess it just depends on how much you spend.  I know plenty of people in the US that make more than $100,000/year, yet lived above their means and had little left to show of it.

IMO, £90,000 is enough to live VERY comfortably, but I guess you won't know until you move here and actually live here awhile to know for yourself.

90K is a sh1tload of money in the UK, even in London. I have never met anyone who earns that much (even combined with their spouse).

UK average earnings are about 23K. Closer to 30K in London. That's household income mind you. So you'll be earning 3x the average salary. Wow!

Tell us what kind of work you do and the education required to attain it. I think I'll go back to college or whatever. I'm a commercial lawyer about 5 years qualified, and don't even make half that amount. You are probably a CEO or something hey?

Tenthplanet is right about the average salary.

I think it's interesting the way on this site there are such extreme differences regarding what is considered a good income/enough money to live comfortably.

There are people who worry about not being able to live on £90K; there are people who worry about not being able to get past immigration because their spouses/partners/fiances are getting benefits.

I am earning much less in the UK than I did in the US, due to my starting over in a new industry, and I haven't had a problem. In my opinion you adjust to the salary you are earning.

Can I assume that the John put most of his US salary into savings or investments anyway? I can't for the life of me imagine how you could spend $107,000 in a year.


 

Maybe this list of MP and ministerial salaries will help put things in perspective:

http://www.parliament.uk/faq/pay_faq_page.cfm

You may also find this usefu, I have't read the whole thing but there is some comparison between UK & US senior executives pay ackages.

http://www.manifest.co.uk/reports/remuneration/pope_and_young_executive_compensation.html

Er, sweetpeach, if you can get the $107 000 I'd be happy to show you how to spend it in a matter of hours! 

If it helps you any, John, £90k is closer to $170k (according to www.xe.com)

A bit of advice, don't look at a UK price and convert it to dollars. You'll never buy anything. Instead, look around and try to find the best price in the UK market.

90K is upper middle class in London and f*ing rich in other parts of the country.  As stated here most people get by with a lot less.  In London there is a disporportionate amount of money spent on housing from a standard US perspective.  Typically a US person spends about 1/3 of takehome on housing where as in the UK and especially London, it is typical to spend 1/2 or greater.

90K while being about 170K USD at current prices, has an effective income of about $110-$130 when compared with buying power.

One consideration is that if you are long term for the UK, you may have a very hard time trying to replace that income if you ever lost your job.  At least in my industry 90K is about the top end of the scale that ranges from about 70K-90K with 5-10 years experience.  I would seriously consider looking at what else is in the market, because if you have gotten the one job that pay way over the average in the UK you may find yourself in serious trouble if you are made redundant.