Cost Of Living Site

[Hybrid Ambassador]

Well, if you are being relocated perhaps from your current employer to Sillicon valley CA, make sure that they pay you at least
US$120k per annum or you won't make it here. Less than that figure, you won't be able to buy a decent house on a 35 plus years mortgage and keep paying the monstruous monthly payment! The housing price is crazy. I have been constantly been offerred a ton of dough for my 30 years old house..My house is less than 3000 sq ft and the vecinity going rate per square foot is US$500.00!

 

[Sockhopper]

In mid-2012, we had to make a sudden decision in Canada to retire to Argentina or to a city in France. On Numbeo, I compared 4 possible cities first with our Canadian one and then with one another. BA would cost 20% less than our city. One of the French cities we were considering would cost 5% less than ours. We moved to that French one. Three months later a shipment of some of our furniture arrived from Canada. In it as well were all our Numbeo printouts and our calculations that we'd done just to help us choose a place. We compared those papers with all the French receipts over our first 3 months in France. Our French city was costing us exactly what Numbeo had said it might!

A remarkable match since we didn't have those Numbeo numbers with us in France when we came here; we hadn't remembered them; and at no time were we trying to spend in France what Numbeo said we might.

Btw, at that time, Numbeo had said that our French city would cost us 15% more than BA. That sounded correct too. And the figures given for our Canadian city were spot on.

 

[fred mertz]

I'd forget the U.S. The job situation is poor. There are few affordable places where you can live without a car. Any city that you'd like just might be out of your price range. As much as I think about "why am I living in BA?" It's actually,the best place for me to live. While money is a major factor when thinking about a place to relocate, there dozens of other things that are extremely important. I looked at a site that is similar to numbeo.com, this morning.It said that a pack of Marlboro cigarettes costs US$10.00 in Montevideo. It would be great if that were true and that was the price in every city. There would be fewer smoker

 

[Alicia karr]

Currently visiting in the US I'm Amazed at how cheap and accessible things are! I went to a dollar store and bought a pair of speakers for my computer ($5) and a bunch of other peripheral apple products (soon to be available in BA!) at phenomenal prices. Groceries definately cheaper except for steak! Altho if you use the blue dollar rate now maybe BA is still a better deal. The biggie is not needing a car. And taxis, even my Remise driver, are still cheaper in BA.I can't find any affordable US city where you wouldn't need a car. But the good news is there are ALOT of hybrids in the US now and gas was 3.30 a gallon. Even the utility bills are closing in on those of BA when looking at cities in the US South. But rent and real estate still much cheaper in BA.
Health care of course is the deal breaker. Medical costs are obscene in the US, and health insurance consequently high. BA hands down is the winner in that category.
Every place has its identity and character. There's a lot to complain about for those of us living in BA. But the cafe culture, architecture, and fairly moderate climate definately are assets. And a day is always interesting in BA. The US is so predictable. No daily drama to entertain!
And re the much talked about shitty customer service in BA...well my experience with 1-800 CONTACTS would rival many of our diatribes re customer service in BA. The only difference is that they are oh, so, nice talking to you...only to totally not come through on their promises...I'd rather know immediately if I'm going to be screwed rather than be seduced by a lot of nice words!

 

[johnw100]

Interesting posts, thanks. I was looking around Irvine, CA as there could be work opportunites around there. As for wages I think i can get around $80-90k, HYbrid Ambassador said $120k which is way out of my league unless my wife started working but that could be a few years before that happened.We would probably rent a house and then after a few years if we stayed buy afterwards, and rental seems to be around about $2000-3500 for a nice 2/3 bed house.

One thing that site doesnt show is cost of services ie plumbers,electricians,childcare,etc. Back home in London you`ll be charged around £80/$120 an hour for those services. Its something I like about living in Argentina, services are a reasonable price, even with the gringo tax they add on. How is the U.S for things like that?

 

[Serendipity]

The daycare we sent our son to in the Laguna Beach/Aliso Viejo area back in 2010 cost us $940.- a month. That included Breakfast, lunch, snacks etc.
Plumbers and Electricians charge around $75- an hour.

 

[Girino]

I watched the average data for Italy and they are too low, in my experience. However they don't have much data for my home country.

The prices for Milan reflects my experience, although I lived in a smaller city at about 30 km (20 miles) from Milan.
I think the average salary for Milan is too high to reflects truly the reality. That's the salary of an experience graduate, not of the average skilled worker (I guess those don't contribute actively to Numbeo).

However, comparing Milan to Buenos Aires, it looks like we made a real deal (we don't work in BsAs, so last item can be ignored).
Indices Difference Consumer Prices in Milan are 31.95% higher than in Buenos Aires Consumer Prices Including Rent in Milan are 51.37% higher than in Buenos Aires Rent Prices in Milan are 119.81% higher than in Buenos Aires Restaurant Prices in Milan are 64.77% higher than in Buenos Aires Groceries Prices in Milan are 21.21% higher than in Buenos Aires Local Purchasing Power in Milan is 27.26% higher than in Buenos Aires

 

[Hybrid Ambassador]

Currently visiting in the US I'm Amazed at how cheap and accessible things are! I went to a dollar store and bought a pair of speakers for my computer ($5) and a bunch of other peripheral apple products (soon to be available in BA!) at phenomenal prices. Groceries definately cheaper except for steak! Altho if you use the blue dollar rate now maybe BA is still a better deal. The biggie is not needing a car. And taxis, even my Remise driver, are still cheaper in BA.I can't find any affordable US city where you wouldn't need a car. But the good news is there are ALOT of hybrids in the US now and gas was 3.30 a gallon. Even the utility bills are closing in on those of BA when looking at cities in the US South. But rent and real estate still much cheaper in BA.
Health care of course is the deal breaker. Medical costs are obscene in the US, and health insurance consequently high. BA hands down is the winner in that category.
Every place has its identity and character. There's a lot to complain about for those of us living in BA. But the cafe culture, architecture, and fairly moderate climate definately are assets. And a day is always interesting in BA. The US is so predictable. No daily drama to entertain!
And re the much talked about shitty customer service in BA...well my experience with 1-800 CONTACTS would rival many of our diatribes re customer service in BA. The only difference is that they are oh, so, nice talking to you...only to totally not come through on their promises...I'd rather know immediately if I'm going to be screwed rather than be seduced by a lot of nice words!

Lacoqueta-san, happy to hear you're visiting the US, Toyota Hybrid vehicle are all over the world, yes I drive nothing but Hybrid as you already guessed, it saves me big time over the years and those gained in savings, would be spent for amenities!

 

[Hybrid Ambassador]

Interesting posts, thanks. I was looking around Irvine, CA as there could be work opportunites around there. As for wages I think i can get around $80-90k, HYbrid Ambassador said $120k which is way out of my league unless my wife started working but that could be a few years before that happened.We would probably rent a house and then after a few years if we stayed buy afterwards, and rental seems to be around about $2000-3500 for a nice 2/3 bed house.

One thing that site doesnt show is cost of services ie plumbers,electricians,childcare,etc. Back home in London you`ll be charged around £80/$120 an hour for those services. Its something I like about living in Argentina, services are a reasonable price, even with the gringo tax they add on. How is the U.S for things like that?

The cost of living diffrence between irvine, CA to Santa Clara, CA ...It is higher to live in Irvine southern CA than Santa Clara northern CA..But not much, it is all in the overall living indexes. So if to make US90k per annum and living in southern CA you may asking your beloved Wife to earn some money as well. But if you two are childless, then it is optimum for her to get some kind of job. If inmmediate house purchase not doable then OK.

Santa Clara, CA is 2.4% less expensive to live in than Irvine, CA.

 

[sleslie23]

Well, if you are being relocated perhaps from your current employer to Sillicon valley CA, make sure that they pay you at least
US$120k per annum or you won't make it here. Less than that figure, you won't be able to buy a decent house on a 35 plus years mortgage and keep paying the monstruous monthly payment! The housing price is crazy. I have been constantly been offerred a ton of dough for my 30 years old house..My house is less than 3000 sq ft and the vecinity going rate per square foot is US$500.00!

You would be VERY hard-pressed to buy a house and support a family on 120k in the Bay Area.