Cost of Living comparison sites?

So, there are lots of sites out there that let you compare cost of living in one U.S. city to another (i.e. if you make $50K in Milwaukee, you'll need to make $X in Boston to maintain a similar standard of living).

But does anyone know of a similar tool to compare U.K. cities/regions?  Or, for that matter, something that does meaningful international comparisons.  I've seen international indexes and that sort of thing, but something more detailed would be useful.

Hi Woadgrrl,

I think it's down to lack of useful data which means there isn't the equivalent for the UK. To add to that, there's only a handful of what I'd call 'tier1' cities in the UK - London, Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow and many of the costs of living factors are quite similar between them all. Of course there's variances, 'rent' for example is usually significantly cheaper in Glasgow than in London - but petrol, food and utility costs are pretty evenly matched.

When you then come to 'major cities' or 'tier2 cities' - Leeds, Bristol, Edinburgh etc etc the population density and costs again are fairly close - so a comparison to how much you'd need in Bristol if you lived in Cambridge for example would show similar levels.

The US has much larger variances and fluctuations with more of the factors for costs of living - petrol prices for instance can vary as much as a $1 per gallon - you'd never find the equivalent variance in pricing in the UK in the exact comparison.

For the second part of your question, I've only really ever looked at US Vs UK international comparison sites, I've not paid attention for instance if there's a site for comparing say UK Vs Italy for example - guess a quick search may find some such sites?

I do see various specific and related kinds of sites, is there anything in particular you are looking for ?

Cheers, DtM! West London & Slough UK!

Well, I've applied for a position with my old company, doing essentially the same thing I used to do, but here, rather than in the U.S.

The thing is, there was no salary range posted in the vacancy notice.

Now, from what I understood from other people in other U.S. locations, the payscale there didn't vary.  Whether you were working in the Pacific Northwest, or in the Midwest, or the East Coast, people tended to be paid roughly the same salary for the same position.

So, I'm working on the assumption (which is not necessarily correct) that the same might apply internationally, as well.  And if so, I could expect to make roughly what I made at home (after the exchange rate, of course). 

And I'm trying to figure out how far that would go in Reading, which is where this office would be located, as compared to Madison, WI, where I used to work.  And for sake of curiosity, it would be interesting to see a cost-of-living comparison between Reading and the Outer Hebrides.  Obviously, it's higher, but it would be interesting to see a break-down.

Not sure if this is what you are looking for, but maybe one of these sites would help.

http://www.expatistan.com/

http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/

Thanks!  I'd seen them, but I guess I linked to the wrong sections of the sites, because I thought they looked more like 'calculate your monthly budget' sites than real comparison sites.

But yes, they did turn out to have some useful (if depressing) information.  Oddly, though, neither of them had any data on the Outer Hebrides. :p 

Hi,

In 'general' terms, the exact same job here in the UK has less pay than what it would in the US. However, I fully understand that can vary. This is something you'll need to discuss with your old company and I suspect, you'll need to put forward a good reason(s) for you to be paid the equivalent here of what the job would/does pay in the US. Things like the sector of industry, job title, company performance etc will all play a part in them offering you a salary as it's based on UK performance and economics, not USA ones.

Reading is on the 'M4 Corridor' in terms of high tech jobs and careers, with costs of living as expected for the area/region. If you will be or are a higher rate Taxpayer, then perhaps more aspects of what you like will be available to you. If you are or will be a basic rate taxpayer, then perhaps less will be available than you'd like.

I guess your first stop is actually finding out what kind of salary range the potential job is!

Good luck!

Cheers, DtM ! West London & Slough UK!

If you will be or are a higher rate Taxpayer, then perhaps more aspects of what you like will be available to you. If you are or will be a basic rate taxpayer, then perhaps less will be available than you'd like.

Sorry, I'm not sure what you mean by this.  Are you speaking strictly in terms of housing, or are you referring to the ratio of polo clubs to bowling alleys?

I thought he meant that if you make lots of money, the south of England is great because you can afford everything, but if you're working an average wage, not so much. The problem with cost of living calculations is they have so much of individual circumstances that need to be taken into account. For example, where you are now, transport is very expensive because you probably have to drive everywhere and it costs a fortune to get to the mainland. In Reading, you might not even need a car because there is loads of public transport, but that is also expensive in the south. Shopping will probably be cheaper because for online shopping you'd get mainland delivery rates, and even groceries will be cheaper because they don't have to get to an island. The savings you make there, though, will be more than surpassed by the increase in housing costs, plus in England you pay water separately from council tax and it's more expensive. There are also prescription costs if that's a consideration for you. Right now you might not spend a lot in socialising or entertainment costs, but you might find that in the busy south you'll want to go to stuff because you'll be able to, and that will add travel and ticket costs that you might not have anticipated. You'll also have to consider the costs to visit your husband's family if you move away, though that might be balanced by the fact that it will be much cheaper to visit the US if you're down there. Personally, I wouldn't want to live in that part of the country (at all, really!) if I would be making anything less than £40k a year, and even then I'd be skittish unless my husband were also contributing on top of that. I'm sure lots of people live just fine down there with well under that, but for me it would mean an unacceptable cut in standard of living. It's down to personal preference really!

I'm dead-certain it would be much more expensive to live in Reading than in Uist.   Which is why I're really rather not.  As much as I'd prefer to live on the mainland, England in general, and particular the south end, are WAAAY at the bottom of my list.  It's sort of like when I lived outside of Boston; great city, great place to visit...but no one I knew had time to really enjoy it because they were all working 2-3 jobs to just make ends meet.  Nope!  Not for me.

But I also can't pass up the opportunity to at least apply for the job.  It's sort of like playing the lottery (which I never bother with, actually); you can't win if you don't play, but every time you enter, you think 'wow, that was a waste of time!'  At least it doesn't cost anything to apply for a job.

Anyhow, comparison-wise I was thinking more of comparing Reading with other places I've lived in the U.S., which would be much more useful comparisons, because out here we don't have any rent, etc. to pay.  I think I'm with you, though; I wouldn't want to accept under £40K, and even then...meh.  The only good thing that made the job worth it last time was the loads of disposable income!  That still doesn't mean I wouldn't accept a lower offer, though, if it came with the chance for a change of scenery.  Because absolutely nothing is ever going to happen here.

Hi,

Yes, it was late night on that reply and perhaps I typed a little too quickly!

In short DrSuperL99 is pretty much spot on there, individual requirements and scenario's can and do play quite a lot into 'cost of living' evaluations and I was also meaning on the 'higher level' as well. For the Tax band thing I mentioned, only 9-10% of the UK's working population are higher rate tax payers. This means they earn at least £40,000 p/a (I can't quite remember the exact figure this year!) that salary (lets say from 40-50K) goes 'much further' in other areas of the country than it does in the South East or London. If you are on a salary less than £40K and are a basic rate tax payer, then you'll have less choice and disposable income due to the costs of daily living being very high.

It's very very difficult to compare directly with say similar types of places in the USA. Some of the generalizations I've used in this thread and this forum - 'Tier1 or 2 cities' etc are just ways of trying to put a little definition in place. For instance, Reading is a small city, so by that sort of 'label' perhaps a 'small city' in the US would be 'Richmond' ? i.e quite close to the nations capital city but not in the immediate suburbs. Have a look say at property prices there, and food pricing, fuel costs compared say with any data on local average salaries etc etc. I'd say the chances of a much lower overall 'cost of living' in Richmond are very good as compared to Reading in the UK.

Now your take on how to perhaps correlate similar cities, large towns between the US and UK may differ from mine, but I think you can see the gist I'm getting at.

Good luck with the potential job and hopefully an offer !

Cheers, DtM! West London & Slough UK!