Hello!
I’ve seen a few posts praising the US and I can’t deny that I’ve also had a very concrete goal of moving permanently to the US eventually. I’m from the EU so the “reality” that I have of the US comes mainly from the media. With this being said, I’d like the brutally honest opinions of those that experienced the US first-hand, whether you’re American, have always lived in the US and absolutely hate it, or if you moved from the EU to the US and are loving the experience.
- As expats, I think we’re all running from something from our home country (work conditions, family situations, etc). What made you move to/out of the US?
- Do you feel your QoL (quality of life) has improved with your move to/out of the US?
- If so, would you attribute this to working conditions/salary? Or living conditions such as more free time, good pension/retirement, etc
- Do you plan on going back to your home country? If so, what is the main driver of that decision?
Last, but not least, for those living in the US, do you believe that the pros of having more/better career opportunities (at least for skilled labor/PhD level) in the US outweigh the cons of living there, namely:
- poor/expensive healthcare
- extremely high tuition fees for colleges
- high crime rates (naturally highly dependent on the place you live)
- small amount of time for maternity leave (I don’t mind the small amount for paternity leave, but in Scandinavian countries mothers can have up to a year of maternity leave which I believe is very beneficial for the kids. I do value countries that value and protect the family structure)
- … and a general low work-life balance? (This last bullet point is not as important to me as I do like and appreciate the hustle culture of the US which makes effort/skills be more appreciated and compensated)
Thank you all! Apologies in advance if this has been asked multiple times before, but I’d like to condensate different perspectives in a single thread if possible as it might be helpful for others as well! :)
The code of the American Dream is if you have enough money and/or credit, as well as the ability to fail upwards, to isolate you from the negatives. The issue now with the inflation and gouging hidden under inflation across the board is that you need a crazy amount of money to isolate you from the negatives. This includes daily expenses all the way to medical care, with and without insurance.
The work-life balance in the US has never been good compared to Europe. It was possible, IMO, years ago, but everything is upside down right now there. There was a point where the US was cheaper than Europe. Now Europe is cheaper than the US. How is it possible that daily life in the US is on par or more expensive than living in the most expensive cities in Europe (ie: Switzerland)? And you get nothing back for those prices unlike in Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Germany, etc. It was shocking to me to see certain things in Iceland even cheaper than in the US.
There were previous threads where people expressed why it was so much better for them to bring their families to places like Austria- the kids can actually play, not worry about dying in a shooting, go into the forests and mountains alone and be safe, etc.
A few years ago, things were, IMO a bit better in the US, but Europe has made huge strides to the point that rationalizations to excuse the US don’t work anymore. Basically, the only reason you move to the US is if you’re a far-rightist, you have money, you’re a sovereign citizen, and you’re naive to the pitfalls of the US. In fact, I’m in various groups from diferent countries in Europe where the people are looking to move or have moved to the US. What’s the commonality? Overwhelmingly far-right politics and their top destinations are Texas, Florida, and other far-right states.
Hmm, with regard to inflation, the US is one of the countries that has suffered the least from inflation post-COVID. Europe has insanely inflated energy costs from the war in Ukraine. I live in Australia now, but the AUD is so weak right now compared to the USD and we also have much worse inflation.
Maybe. We don’t know, because the way the US comes up with methodologies for CPI is protected like Nuke secrets. They recently just changed it again so they can massive undercount it this year to take out lower inputs from 2021.
CPI in America is more a measure of that median urban wage workers are buying in America, not inflation. It’s designed to undershoot entitlement payments essentially so they take the purchasing power of our social security payments.
I just moved 6 months ago, so my understanding of the cost of things is pretty recent and inflation was higher then than it is now. Inflation is way worse in Australia, and I have spoken to colleagues in various European countries and Canada and they say the same.
“Anything I don’t like” is far-right energy right here 🤡
You’re creating a caricature of the US: yes, we do have some loud right wing gun nuts, but we also have millions more quietly hard-working professionals who wouldn’t feel out of place in any European city. US states on the coasts are more similar to Europe in many ways than they are to other US states in conservative areas like the deep south or the lower midwest. Suburbs and small towns in New England, New York and the Pacific NW have crime rates just as low or lower than Europe. America’s best public schools are also among the best in the world and feed into its private universities, which are also the most sought after in the world. It’s a huge country, not easy to characterize but very easy to misrepresent based on what’s trending on Tik Tok.