Can anyone tell me what the comparison is of living in Australia versus the U.S. ?

Question

i.e. cost of living, medical insurance/costs, salaries for a plumber, apartment/housing costs, weather, nice areas to live... ect.

Answer 1

I recently heard that the cost of living in Sydney has been compared to that of New York, so Australia is rather expensive.

Medical insurance varies, for a single person, extra's cover is $20 a month and combined hospital and extras is $80 a month, based on Lysaghts Peoplecare prices which are cheap by comparison. Double those prices for a couple, children under 21 are free on your policy.

Don't know the exact salary but I would expect close to around $1000 a week.

Apartment or houses to rent in Wollongong (one hour out of syd so a little cheaper) vary from $300 for a decent house or unit in a cheaper area to $600 for the s****. regions. To purchase your looking at at least $300,000 for a basic one storey house or town house.

Weather is very simular but without the extremities. We have very little snow and mostly at the snow fields up the mountains. Average temperatures in Sydney see - http://www.sydney.com.au/weather.htm

I think the Wollongong area is a nice place, also known as the Illawarra. We're an hour south from Sydney so close enough yet far enough at the same time. There a many new estates being built and the area is growing rapidly, so plenty of work for available for you.

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EDIT- I don't know where you got that info but Wollongong has low unemployment compared to the rest of NSW. Our youth unemployment is higher though, but mostly by their own choice.

I've lived in Wollongong my whole life I think I know the prices, I also own a few investments. Smart ***

Answer 2

That is a hard question to anwser.I have been to the states 18 months ago for 6 weeks.Stayed with locals and shopped around at Walmart etc.

What I can tell you is at the time the Aussie Dollar was weak.So things were more costly than they would be at the moment in the US as our Dollar is much stronger now.

So the best way I can sum it up is,things were cheaper for us in most ways than at home.But ,i think you will find that in Australia,on average,we have a much higher standard of living for the ordinary working class person,even poorer people have a much better living standard.Not many trailer parks here.Your working class people seem to be alot worse off,working two or more jobs to survive.So the cost of living for your people is expensive.

My family are upper working to middle class incomes in Australia and we can afford a trip overseas every couple of years.That something that you could not do if you lived in the states.

Health care(hospitals) is free here or 40 to 50 bucks to see a doctor and we get back most of that from the Goverment health fund,or you can pay for private healh if you wish.Cars and petrol and food seems cheaper in the US,but then again if you are a local it would not be.If Americians came here now ,because of your weak dollar you would find it expensive.If you were here two years ago ,your dollar was strong and it would of been cheap.Hope that all makes sense,as it is not something one can really compare.

Sorry Mel your prices for Wollongong are way out.

Unemployment is the highest in the country.

Answer 3

It depends on where in Australia you want to be. Sydney for example is probably the most expensive city in Australia in which to live & is also one of the most expensive cities to live in in the world particularly when it comes to housing affordability. As far as medical insurance is considered the rates charged are pretty much the same throughout Australia.

Sydney is probably the most popular city in Aus closely followed by Melbourne, then come Brisbane Perth, Adelaide, Hobart & Darwin in no particular order

Answer 4

I don't know what it's like to live in the states but I'd rather live there than Wollongong. Sydney is expensive but it's where you'd want to go. Wollongong has one of the highest unemployment rates for a largely populated area. It's good to live here and work in Sydney though.

EDIT: he's not a smart ***, you're prices are way out.... and there are hardly any jobs in Wollongong.

Answer 5

cost of living is very comparable to the u.s.health insurance is cheap, compared to u.s. basic "free "hospital cover is included in tax payments, called pay-as-you-go tax for employees. self employed, a little more complex. rates; from 30% to 47.5% ( as a rough guide. a plumber can expect to earn around $1000-$1200 p.w., less tax. housing in any capital city in oz is expensive. base house $380-450,000. mid-price $500,000 plus. rents are high, due to low availability, expect $350-$900 p.w. climate is excellent on the eastern sea-board, west-coast can get very hot. the culture is similar to u.s., but at the same time very different. no guns, unless your a crim or a gun club member, very strict on this and most aus. like it that way. fairly non-violent, but suggest you don't provoke, therés a bit of russell crowe in us all. most folks very strait-forward and don't like bull-shitters much. fairly heavy drinkers, but not every-body. if an aust. calls you a b*****d, it's friendly if he's smiling. women are very aggressive and forward, but in a good way. suggest you come here and look around before you settle, places vary a lot. sydney= new york, melbourne=boston ,brisbane='frisco, cairns=a little l.a. (in a way), darwin=wild, wild, west., adelaide=washington, perth=wisconsen, hobart=marthas vineyard. they're just the main cities, heaps of choice in-between. hope this helps. aussie-bob.....oh, one piece of advice; no-one in oz gives a rats-**** HOW you do things in america, we do it our way........