A highly subjective poll about standard of living

Something to think about is that many of us moved here in order to marry a British citizen.

Getting married is going to change your standard of living wherever you live, whether it is because
1. You change from having one income to having two
2. There are more mouths to feed in your household (especially true if you have children after you get maried), or
3. You marry into a family that has a different standard of living.

I was single and lived on my own in the US, and then moved over and lived on my own in the UK.

I found that in the UK I was paying roughly half for housing costs that I paid in the US.

We had a cooler flat and had access to better shops in the US. Things are slightly less of an ordeal in the US.  I mean there's less tolerance of bureaucracy or companies screwing over their customers, at least at the retail level.  That is not to say that there is no bureaucracy in the US or that you'll never encounter poor customer service/rip-offs in the US.  I just see it more here.  You could more easily shop after 5 pm on a Sunday or find an open restaurant at 10 PM.

That said, we have a better standard of living here.  If I were to list the reasons, this post would go past the character limit, I am sure.  I had insurance in the US, but it was relatively expensive and didn't cover everything.  We had NPR/PBS in the US.  Compare that to BBC telly and radio.  My husband gets more holiday than he'd get in 5 years in the US (because he works in education, he has generous time off even by UK standards).  I've lived mostly in snowy or frigid (or both) places.  Here, it's relatively warm in the winter and much less humid and hot in the summer.  Europe is right there for the travel, not to mention more exotic locations.  

Pretty much every place I've lived has felt like a place I'm staying for a while, even places I've loved (like NYC).  However, this feels like home, and even though we are considering moving elsewhere in a few years, this will always be home.  I don't know how that factors into standard of living, but I think a place either fits with your life or it doesn't.  When it does, it doesn't mean everything goes perfectly, but it does colour things like your view on standard of living.

I lived on my own in upstate NY and southern CA.  My quality of life is far better in the UK than it was in either of those places.  I find it easier to live without a car, which I have never had, both because there's more and better public transport here and because people here don't look at me like I'm some sort of freak when I tell them I don't drive.   I have a better job here and feel I fit into my workplace's culture better than I did anywhere I worked in the US.  I have a nicer place to live than I could have afforded there, and am able to have a reasonable amount of nice things and good experiences, while still paying all my bills and putting some money into savings.  Most of this last bit is due to the fact that I'm married now and so have the benefit of my husband's income as well, however I do feel like we'd be struggling more if we lived in the US on a comparable income.  Even without the higher taxes that we pay here, we would likely have trouble paying health insurance premiums, and we wouldn't be able to live in a small town like we do here, since I would need to live close to my work in order to be able to get there without the train, so our rent would be higher....  Things are just better here, for me at least.   

I'll try to separate "standard" of living from "cost" of living.  As far as standard of living goes, I think the UK wins there.  Pros:  public transportation, historically significant sites, fewer problems with minorities, greater sociability, travel opportunities.  Cons:  health and dental care (what does it matter if it's free, it's crap), customer service, shopping (Homebase doesn't have 1/10th the selection of a Lowes or Home Depot, just for example), itty bitty refrigerators.

As goes cost of living, the US wins hands down.  Housing.  Food.  Clothing.  Petrol.  Automobiles.  A reliable rule of thumb is that if it costs a dollar in the US it will cost a pound or more in the UK.  Our move from Florida to Dorset is costing us big.  A house that we could rent in the US for $1k a month will cost us L2k which given the exchange rate is 3 times higher.  Ouch.  Still, here we come.

You've just gotten here, right, lakemirror?  I know you've visited a bit, but I'd give it a bit of time using the NHS before you judge it.  BTW, dental isn't "free" (in the sense that you actually have to pay for your visits, but less than you would privately).  In my experience, NHS isn't bad medically.  Dental is a bit crap, but there's always private for both.

And money hasn't been $2 to £1 for a while, and then it wasn't at that rate all that long.  A better way to figure it out is either looking at the rate for that day or using Google.  Type in the search bar how much you want to convert from one currency to another.  For instance, today when I type in "1 GBP in USD", the result is "1 British pound = 1.54200 U.S. dollars".  BTW, around $1.50 is a pretty common rate for the past few years.  Sometimes you get more or less, but I vividly remember the times the Dollar was trading at half the price of the Pound in the past ten years or so, and it wasn't all that much time.  That is a much better way for people to reckon the cost of living here compared to the US, but on a day to day basis, unless you are paid in USD, people tend to fall out of the habit of doing the head conversions constantly.  I never thought I would, but I have.

You've just gotten here, right, lakemirror?

No, I have been here for a decade in visits of a month at a time, 3 or 4 times a year.  I'm finally making the permanent move here in September, though. 

I'd give it a bit of time using the NHS before you judge it.  BTW, dental isn't "free" (in the sense that you actually have to pay for your visits, but less than you would privately).  In my experience, NHS isn't bad medically.  Dental is a bit crap, but there's always private for both.

Didn't mean to sound so judgmental.  My experience with NHS has had it's ups and downs.  I love our local GP and think the world of him.  If I have any major medical issues that arise on a non-emergency basis, though, I'm hopping a plane to the US to take care of it.

And money hasn't been $2 to £1 for a while

Well aware.  My point was not so much about exchange rate as it was about comparing prices.  If I know that a hard disk drive for a computer costs 100 dollars then I know to expect to pay AT LEAST 100 pounds which comes out to 150 dollars.  This is not an exchange rate deal, this is a multiplier of the cost of goods deal.  Almost everything in England is more expensive than in the US.  At some point, UK manufacturers and distributors will need to rethink their price points on items they sell, if they want to remain competitive in the marketplace.

That is a much better way for people to reckon the cost of living here compared to the US, but on a day to day basis, unless you are paid in USD, people tend to fall out of the habit of doing the head conversions constantly.  I never thought I would, but I have.

I am and always will be paid in US dollars.  No getting around the conversion bit for me!   

When I first moved here, I heard that international corporations call Great Britain "Treasure Island" because of the mark up in prices.  I am not sure if it is true or not, but a lot of consumer goods are more here.  And the thing is, some Brits aren't even aware of it if they aren't well travelled or shop if they do travel.  For instance, we're travelling to the States soon and my MiL told us that we should shop for new clothes before we go (she's always giving us unsolicited nuggets of advice).  We do need new clothes, but we've been putting off doing major clothes and shoes shopping so we can buy things in the US.  She didn't believe us when we tried to tell her that we'd save money in the US, and that we might buy some electronics when we're there as well.  It's now gone through the entire family, and I've totally given up trying to convince everyone that it's expensive here.  Oh, they suggested Primark, which is fine if you want to buy something that may or may not be sized right and will probably fall apart after a few washings (the same reason I avoid Walmart in the US).

Yes, things are more expensive here, but I've also found myself buying less than in the US.  Not because I am being more "sensible" and saving money, but my lifestyle is so different now.  I am much less of a consumer here.

My (grownup- post university life- not my childhood, that was completely different of a lifestyle) standard of living was much, much, much higher in the US. I look back now and I realise how good I actually it had it (financially).

Still, I'm not here for the money and even more important, I'm loving it here. And that's all that matters to me at the moment. 

Legs, you should do a shopping trip with my wife.  She takes her friends on sprees when they come over from the UK, and she has even considered starting a business of guiding visiting Brits on clothing shopping trips when they come over.  She owned a ladies clothing shop in Dorset before she moved over here with me.  

Even without sale prices, clothing is less expensive in the US.  When you hit the sales, it's unreal.  This is not just for inferior Asian merchandise, this is top notch designer label best quality.  You can, of course, buy horrible stuff for even less from the likes of WalMart if you only seek lowest price, but you don't have to.....good quality is available for a fraction of UK prices.

We don't ever buy clothing in the UK unless it's a bonafide emergency.  We could easily pay for the cost of an airline ticket in savings on clothes and other goods that we buy in the US.  We don't do that, though....wouldn't want to deprive the PM of his VAT, would we?

My (grownup- post university life- not my childhood, that was completely different of a lifestyle) standard of living was much, much, much higher in the US. I look back now and I realise how good I actually it had it (financially).

Still, I'm not here for the money and even more important, I'm loving it here. And that's all that matters to me at the moment. 

Well said.  Standard of living is computed by MANY more things that the cost of living.  I love it enough to be moving to England, eyes open.

Cost of living in the UK is much higher, and since we just did the switch and my husband kept his job I can definitely say that he's getting paid less to do the same thing.  It might take a good five years before we can afford the amount of square footage of house we had in Texas and I doubt we'd be able to find the same amount of garden for a price we can afford. 

But, as many others have already said, standard of living isn't just cost.  I'm able to stay home in the UK partly because we don't have to worry about healthcare costs and because we can get by with one car.  Those weren't options in Texas for us.  We have family close by in the UK where in the US my family was far from Texas.  We have running trails and beautiful countryside walks right out our door - while in Austin we used to drive down to town lake to jog. 

Overall I would say that we had the ability to access more luxury items in the US - but in the UK we have everything we need and we have more time and ability to enjoy it.

My life here: 39 days (including statutory) paid holiday. Free healthcare (and all of my experiences have been excellent, so I disagree that it's crap and therefore not worthwhile). Generous maternity leave provision should I decide to have children. Europe on my doorstep. 15th century ruins 3 minutes away from my office. Locally produced venison, water buffalo and wild boar at my monthly farmers market. Temperature never above 26oC. A great job at a wonderful university. A great flat in a nice town for not much money. The love of my life.

My life in the US: Suburban cookie cutter hell. More strip malls than trees. Unaffordable health care because of expensive pre-existing condition. I had a hospitalisation in January that would have bankrupted me in the US. Being unable to afford to live anywhere better because my job wouldn't pay enough to support us. Paying for birth control. Craptastic holiday and maternity leave provision. Few surviving buildings older than 1900 in 90% of the country. Bland, generic culture. In-your-face religion and more than 50% of people not believing in evolution, or having to live in a major city to avoid that, which would suck because I a) hate big cities and b) couldn't afford to live very well. Complete lack of public transport and even decent provision for walking outside of big cities. Horrible, horrible summer heat.

Cheaper clothes don't make up for everything I hate about the US, and the lack of Target (which I never liked anyway) doesn't for a moment detract from all I love about the UK. Oh, and there is Costco here.

In the US, I had more money and spent less, and I had what I consider to be better preventive health care. (I had good insurance through my job.)

In the UK, a larger home, less crime, more peace and quiet, cleaner air, less litter on the streets, friendlier neighbours, the ability to walk to work instead of commute on the subway for over nd hour each way,  the ability to quit a crap job that was making me miserable and instead do something that I enjoy because I don't have to worry about what happens if become ill, pubs everywhere so if I want to socialise with friends in the evening I can just pop into a pub around the corner or down the street instead of having to take the subway somewhere.

So overall, my quality of life is better in the UK, in my opinion, even though my spending power is lower.

Well, I'd say my standard of living is higher in the UK - but not really financially or materially. I mean, I moved from Dallas, Texas, to a lovely small seaside village in the English countryside. I get lots of fresh air, there are castles and gorgeous beaches everywhere, it's never too hot, there's lots of nice places to take walks, and I am eating a lot of fresh food and cooking most everything at home since there aren't really any fast food places around here. I'm getting better health care here than in the US, for the most part, since I didn't have insurance some of the time, and the insurances I had at various points didn't cover my skin medications for psoriasis. I'm happier - I have a happy family and love in my life and usually I don't have nearly as much stress as I had in the US (though recently I have certainly taken some hits). Not sitting in traffic all day does wonders for my sense of contentment!

But, in Dallas, Texas, I found it easier to find jobs and I was able to make more money and easily support myself, while living in a nice neighbourhood and being able to shop and go out to eat and to the movies and museums and other stuff much more often than I do here. I find it's a bit harder to get into that kind of financial position here in the UK, even with a spouse. But, money isn't everything, and some people come by it more easily than others no matter where they are.

So, yes, it depends on what you are looking for.

Hi all

I always stick my oar into these topics !! 

Keeping with the OP's request of actual people who've lived in both countries experiences only - I only wanted to add the following.

There is a difference in

Standard of Living
Cost of Living
Quality of Life

Some of the reponses are slightly misguided, though not intentionally, as to those specific 'indicators'

Lastly, another 'semi unofficial' indicator I use which related to all of those is 'Value for Money'.

Each has a bearing on the other and is different for every person and individual.

Cheers, DtM! West London & Slough UK!

Hi all

I always stick my oar into these topics !! 

Keeping with the OP's request of actual people who've lived in both countries experiences only - I only wanted to add the following.

There is a difference in

Standard of Living
Cost of Living
Quality of Life

Some of the reponses are slightly misguided, though not intentionally, as to those specific 'indicators'

Lastly, another 'semi unofficial' indicator I use which related to all of those is 'Value for Money'.

Each has a bearing on the other and is different for every person and individual.

Cheers, DtM! West London & Slough UK!

Dennis, could you explain what you see as the difference between Standard of Living and Cost of Living?