Seems like it’s a well known fact that being poor or even middle class (if that will even exist anymore) in the US disposes one to a very low quality of life (e.g., living in areas with higher crime rates, bad healthcare, the most obvious being cost of living, …etc)
On the flip side, what are some reasons why the top 1-5% percentile would also want to leave the US? (e.g., taxes/financial benefits, no longer aligning with the culture? I would assume mainly the former)
If you are in the top 1-5%, is living in the US still the best place to live? (as many people would like to suggest)
We moved from Australia. If we moved back ,we would each take about 50-70% pay cut, in very different unrelated industries. A similar home to our one in the US would cost about 3x the price.
We are essentially about 4-5x richer in America working the same jobs. When we get to the point of not needing to work anymore, we would probably move back to Australia.
What industries? Because we’re in tech/law-finance and we have found it’s a lot closer to 30%.
But then, and this is a genuine question, doesn’t the extra pay gets spent in healthcare and other costs that I keep reading to be also quite expensive in the US, like owning a car or general cost of living?
Depending on what your income is, your healthcare (as in your co pays and insurance contribution) is not so expensive that it’s going to eat up that difference in pay check.
And in those very good jobs, you frequently get better insurance with better coverage and lower co-pays.
Owning a car in the US I have found to be WAY cheaper than the EU. I am not the person you asked this of, and it’s been 16 years since I was in Australia, but gas prices in some parts of the EU/AU would make an American weep. I have family in the UK and EU and they pay almost more per liter than what you pay for a gallon here, and a gallon is 3.78 liters. MSRP on a lot of vehicles is cheaper in the US. I don’t know what car insurance rates are like, but unless you’re getting hosed in the US because you are a crappy driver, there’s no way that the difference in rates makes a huge difference on the bottom line at a certain income level.
https://www.globalpetrolprices.com/gasoline_prices/
Based on the current rates, my fam in NL are paying double the US cost in gasoline. And despite what people say about bikes and public transportation, the vast majority of people I know back there still commute by car.
A Toyota Corolla costs $22k in the US and £30k+ in the UK.
Cost of Living seems to be having problems everywhere. In the US there are places that span the range from cheap to normal to expensive to astronomical. Plenty of people in the EU saw costs rise a huge amount during the pandemic, and housing crises are making living spaces pricey too.
I recommend reading news sources of the places you want to be, subreddits too, and while some are biased towards what people complain about versus praise, it does give some info on what are problematic issues.
And don’t forget that car prices are generally the same or higher than the US around the world. Imaging buying a $22k car when you’re making $500 a month? Cars are essentially a luxury where I’m from
Please keep in mind that healthcare expenses are not proportional to income per n the USA. People in better jobs tend to have better health insurance plans and they also tend to live healthier life styles. With good insurance, these top out at several thousand per year per family.
Taxes tend to be lower in the US, real estate tends to be cheaper in the US, cars tend to be cheaper in the US. I am not sure why you think that general cost of living is very high in the USA.