America's Or People Who Know America....Please Help?

Show all answers

mJc

The U.S. is a HUGE country with many, many different places and lifestyles to enjoy (or be miserably stuck in). And each State is like a different country. Each city and town can be different as night and day. We have schools that are great and schools that are terrible. We have places with plenty of jobs available and places where jobs are scarce. So much depends on where you live and how much you care about making your local government work for you and your State. If you like warm weather, focus on the west coast and southern states. If you're up for snow and cold check out the midwest and east coast. It's not cheap here - not if you want to live the good life... but it can be done depending on how hard you want to work. Good luck!

car_man_phil

Im English but I know America quite well. I love it too and hope to move there one day. The people are generally very friendly, polite and good hearted.

Places like Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco etc.. in California and anywhere near NYC will probably be the most expensive to live.

Florida has a nice climate and some lovely scenery, there are some not so nice parts but Florida is generally quite cheap.

I love Texas as it feels like the most American State and it too has a nice climate.

American houses are typically nice. There are a lot of bungalow type houses, and most have white slatted wood panels just like you see in the films and on TV.

The roads are much wider than here in the UK, and the traffic system is a lot more organized, with more obedient drivers than European drivers!

Everything in America is bigger than what were used to in the UK. As everything is more spread out, you may find that you need to drive a lot more than you would do in the UK, and often drive longer distances.

The school system in America is good, again much more organised.

Finally it is generally cheaper to live in America than in the UK. You don't get free health care, but their health care system is better than the our NHS. Houses are cheaper, petrol is a fraction of the price it is here and general shopping is cheaper too (groceries, clothes etc..).

Good luck with your move I hope it all works out for you.

Sleepy Dad

Schools:

Good or Bad depending on neighborhood. Public Education is free (as in no tuition) but quality varies a lot. Better schools make the house pricing go up because you need to live in the area around the school in order to go a public school. Various local and state governments have tried passing bills to let people choose which public school they want to go to but this rarely ever passes into law. The good schools tend to be ultra-competitive and sometimes gets rid of extra-curricular activities (like music, dance, etc) in order to focus more on academics.

Newsweek Magazine runs an annual "Best Schools of US" article. You can check that out.

Cost:

Living on the West Coast (California, Oregon, Washington) or East Coast (New England states, New York, Florida, etc) costs more than living in the Mid-West (Texas, Kansas, Illinois, etc).

People like living in California (costs about 2 to 3 times more than Midwest) because of the nice weather. Jobs usually pay more in order to compensate for the costs. www.zillow.com will give you an idea of home prices in most parts of US.

ECullenâ™¥

houses are nice here....depends on what you lkike, city life i would say new york or chicago...country life ohio or iowa....mixture of both virginia or north carolina......college is not cheap but if you have kids public school is free...with college you can get government money, so its pretty cheap in the end.

Just Some Girl

I live in Southern California, and it's rather expensive. The school systems aren't always very good, but you just have to find the right area to live in. As far as nice houses are concerned, it all depends on what you consider nice. There are decent houses out there in decent areas that don't cost too much. I don't think you'll find much in California, though. You might have to find a state toward the center of the U.S. where things might be cheaper.

Grendel C

Schools are different in different locations and they vary depending on whether you mean public, private, charter, independent, grade school, college, etc. The cost of living varies from state to state as well and whether it is "cheap" will depend on what kind of job you have and the salary you make. It'll be cheaper if you're a lawyer in small town North Carolina than a public school teacher in Manhattan. Housing again varies on what you can afford.

As far as the best places to live it depends on what your looking for. If you hate living in the mountains then you probably aren't going to think that parts of West Virginia are the best places to live, even if the crime rate is low, etc. So really your question is impossible to answer without knowing what you're looking for and how it compares to where you are from. Try looking here http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2007/ or here http://top100.relocate-america.com/ for some of the top cities to live in.

fdm215

There are 300 million people living here....much like England you can find variety in the locations, climate, housing, salary scale, school districts, etc. Why don't you pick a few places to visit and then narrow down your question.

T C

All schools are regulated by the Federal Government and by the states, so they are comparable. I would say very good! Depending on which state you choose and which town in that state, it can be extremely expensive, or inexpensive. 3 bedroom 2 bath, 1500 square foot house in Arkansas will be about $70,000. Same house in California, or New York, $300,000 to $1000,000. If you like snow and cold, Northern states, If you like heat and humidity, southern states. If you like both Middle of the US.

Aik

schools are perfect
cost of living not really cheap
many nice houses in beverly hills
this is not the best place to live

http://us-travel-guide.blogspot.com/

mrs.darcy

Well, I've lived in rural Pennsylvania, South Florida, and North Carolina. And for a family like yours, I think I would suggest North Carolina.

The Raleigh area (the capital of the state) is rapidly growing, but has many different towns to live. Raleigh itself can be expensive, as is the north part of Wake County. But south of the city are once small towns that are quickly becoming nicer and bigger with more conveniently located shops (grocery stores, WalMarts, Target, etc.). Fuquay-Varina or Holly Springs are two towns that are still relatively small, not as busy as a place like Apex or Cary.

The public schools in Wake County can be good, but can also be crowded. It depends seriously on the school (which also dictates the area you move to). However, a nice benefit to living in North Carolina is the cheap in-state colleges. There are a ridiculous amount of state schools that provide less expensive, in-state tuition. And NC has some of the lowest in-state tuitions in the country. There are also two boarding high schools (School of Science and Math in Durham and School of the Arts in Winston-Salem) that, if your children can get accepted, are free to in-state students.

I hope I've helped! Remember, the US is a huge country and there are lovely places to live in every single state! Consider climate, too- NC is relatively warm, but can get cold, especially in the western part of the state!

S. A.

Everything really depends on where you live. We have some excellent public schools and some horrible public schools. Things generally are cheap over here, certainly much cheaper than in Britain. But you do have to pay for health care out of pocket. Again, housing... depends on where you live, we have great neighborhoods and then we have the "'hood" if you know what i mean. Best place to live? If you want to avoid violent crime definately avoid major cities in the South (i.e. Memphis, Atlanta, St. Louis, New Orleans) as well as LA, Chicago, and Detroit. The Northeast is nice as is the Northwest. If you like small towns, there are PLENTY of great small towns all around the country, most safe and with great school systems.

Jadensterling

hey there!

America is great. However we are in the middle of a war, remember?? Yeah that part sucks. Our gas prices are astronomical at the moment...and right now the American Dollar isn't worth anything. This is the first time in years, if ever that Canadian Money is worth more then the dollar. We are in debt over a Trillon dollars and headed towards economical disaster.Our unemployment is at an all time high. And as much as I would love to have you here...I just wouldn't think it would be a wise decision at the moment...other then the cost for you to move here. Actually since our money isn't worth the paper its printed on...it would probably be the cheapest time for you to move here. I live in Wyoming. As long as you stay away from Cheyenne...(higher crime there) its a wonderful place to raise kids. There isn't much to do here for anyone unless you love the mountains, go hunting, fishing...nature type of things. There are only things like going to the bar for adults. We don't even have a shopping mall where I live, you have to go 250 miles in 2 different directions to get to one. But I will say that my son's schools are the best!! My youngest child has some learning disabilities and they do everything they can to work with him and truly seem to adore him. They show it in all they do! In the summer Wyoming is very desert like, it gets very hot, in the winter it can be snow hell. Some towns in Wyoming are very windy...whereas others aren't. Here is a link to one of the most beautiful places in the state. Hope this helps and thanks for the add!! ~hugs~

PS...I had a friend that I met here that was from London. Sadly..she ended up moving back I think because she didn't like the small town life, everyone is all over in your business and she hated that.Its just something you have to put up with if you want the small town life with no crime, etc.

Natalie G

it is nice and affordable compare to other countries but i do find europe to be more calm and less hectic.

y/a

Texas and Florida because they are warm and have many places you can go to to have fun.

Upper Darby Pennsylvania (I lived there before) great for school and fun because there are many of them.

Saint Paul/Minneapolis Minnesota (I'm currently living there) for lots of options to many different colleges

**************************************...

DO NOT move to Louisiana (I used to live there), Mississippi, Alabama, Nevada, or New York (New York is Very expensive to live at and very crowded)

Princess Buffy

America is a lovely place, homes are affordable- many price ranges to choose from, schools are ok but could be better, it is reasnable cost of living, nice weather, some of the nicest places are Texas, California, New Mexico, Arizona.

The silent pen

A lovely country but I think that its going to disappear.

Smash

there are very good schools in america but there are also some pretty bad ones. public schools arent bad in some towns but some of the city public schools might be a little rough. private schools are good if you want to pay for them. there are some areas that are cheap and some that are very exspensive. someone staes have high taxes mainly around the coasts. if you likes the city life then new york or california are good places to live. if you are older and you like warm weather then florida and other states down south are good. it all basically depends on what you do for a living what kind of weather you like and what type of environment.

Im real,feelings got 2 be hurt

It depends on what state here u want 2 move 2 here.Then just do ur research on a computer,and find out what place you would want 2 live.Then farther ur ?.Personally though the best place 2 live in the world is Hawaii,cause of everything there is better than everthing else,elsewhere.I will let u know dat is the best place 2 live in the world,period though,thats in the world though.So i can't really answer dat too good.

gigglesâ™¥

where are you from?
and uhm
well
i live in austin texas these houses here are from 100,000 to 300,000

califronia is very expensive
i used to live there

amarillo texas houses are 60'000 dollars to idk
but they are ugly and its pretty uhm.. idk theirs tornadoes

â™¥mee meeâ™¥

there are the best skools...small towns are te best...if u come dont live in certain places thar're too violent{research it}...skools vary.

Lady War

America is beautiful....But I do not recommend moving here. Please stay in your own country..no offense

Enter Your Message or Comment

User Name:
User Email:
Post a comment: