What's the average salary in U.K? / Cost of living...

Depends where you are moving to in the UK..

Try starting with the following:

Regards Sunil

Its totally dependent upon where you live. Think Sydney house prices for most of the South of the UK though.

Salaries are very dependent on the profession. Main grade payscales for teachers run from about 18,500 to 27,000 for example with additional payments for some responsibilities. Generally people start at the bottom of the scale and work up, but when you change schools your salary would be matched. I don't know if that would work coming from abroad.

A doctor could just about double these figures.

As to how much you would need to live- then the answer is as much as possible!

Your biggest expense is likely to be accommodation. There are many parts of UK where a couple, both earning 25k would have difficulty getting a mortgage on a modest 3 bedroom house. Look at some estate agent websites. A mortgage might be difficult without a UK credit history, but you could probably get 3 times combined salary so if your wife does not undertake paid work then 3 times your salary would be the maximum. You either need a huge salary or a very small house! Another option is to rent a house, which is probably what you need to do for a start until you get settled and work out where you would like to stay.

Sorry if this puts you off, but moving country is hugely expensive. The more cash you can take with you the better to help you settle in and build up credit history. It depends on your job and how close to it you live, but transport is likely to be another major cost. One way to overcome the housing issue is to move further away from prime areas. Unfortunately this may mean a long commute to work.

James

governemnt

You need to give much more information before anyone could give a sensible answer.

This site does all the comparisons for you.

When you get to the site click on the link for international comparisons. Regards Bob

Whats a "mid-level professional".?

Opps,thought you meant UK to OZ,that seems like more sense,dont do it mate. We are all trying to leave the UK at present. By we i mean many Brits who can afford to leave.

Raising a wife? I think you may have trouble bringing a wife that young into the country, or at least getting the marriage recognised....

As to salary, that would depend on location, simply to ride out the housing cost differences.

Jim.

Here's some more to add to a comprehensive list ! - - The Wealth of the Nation Report

hth

Daytona

Just came across this thread... For the first time I and my family are seriously considering leaving the UK. Taxes are sky-rocketing over here, stealth taxes are taking a burden, nothing seems to work and our taxes do not seem to provide clean uncongested roads, a quality health service, decent schools or anything other than paying hundreds of thousands of mediorce people to do bugger all. UK Law increasingly is oppressive to the 'middle classes' - not that I consider myself middle class having voted in New Labour - and 'the Law' seems to favour the criminal over the victim. Property prices are simply ridiculous and you end up paying most of your take-home salary in a mortage for something which is nothing more than a cheaply, badly made shoe-box. Frankly, I would not bother coming to the UK. Go to Canada instead.

Nation

If you're not middle class (nor, presumably, upper), then you have no cause to complain about property prices and mortgages. You'll be renting a council shoebox, yes, badly-made I'll grant, but no more so than up with which the plebs are expected to put. You won't have a take-home salary, you'll have a wage. Instead of ranting on about the country going to the dogs, you'll be going to the dogs (whippet races) yourself. Now pull yourself together and enrol in a beginner-level evening class in forelock-tugging.

UK taxes are the same as the OECD average

but as you mention, it could be down to how effectively the tax revenue is used for service provision. The UN Human Development index suggests there's not much in it -

"Human development index (HDI) A composite index measuring average achievement in three basic dimensions of human development - a long and healthy life, knowledge and a decent standard of living. For details on how the index is calculated, see technical note 1.

HDI Rank Country Human development index (HDI) value

2001 1 Norway 0.944 2 Iceland 0.942 3 Sweden 0.941 4 Australia 0.939 5 Netherlands 0.938 6 Belgium 0.937 7 United States 0.937 8 Canada 0.937 9 Japan 0.932 10 Switzerland 0.932 11 Denmark 0.930 12 Ireland 0.930 13 United Kingdom 0.930 14 Finland 0.930 15 Luxembourg 0.930 16 Austria 0.929 17 France 0.925 18 Germany 0.921 19 Spain 0.918 20 New Zealand 0.917 . . "

This, to me, is one of the most fundamental indicators of government incompetence. It ain't rocket science is it ? Simply a matter of making reasonable efforts to balance supply with demand.

Daytona

The average will presumably be rather distorted by the US, though (depending on what kind of average you take). I suspect we have something like the worst possible level of taxes, high enough for people to complain but too low to actually fund a good service level. I'm always a bit amazed that health care and transport in particular don't have people protesting on the street, but I guess we're still a country that grumbles about things but puts up with them. There also seems to be a general sense of defeatism, people assume that any change is bound to make things worse even when they don't like the way they are now. The Conservatives know that very well, they make noises about tax cuts but they have no intention of making significant cuts in spending, just the standard "efficiency savings". I think the fact that Michael Howard has suggested this tax freedom day holiday just shows that he knows he has no chance of becoming prime minister, there's no way a government would actually do such a thing.

The government are only doing what people want; the people who can't afford to buy houses are vastly outnumbered by the people who already own them and don't want their property values reduced. In anything like a true free market house prices would drop to around the building cost, which would be more than a factor 2 in many cases.

Never heard of it before now !

Sounds like a good idea to me -

Thursday, 27 November, 2003, 18:35 GMT

Tories to push for tax holiday

Voters could get a special Bank Holiday to mark the date when they stop working for the taxman, Michael Howard said in his first party political broadcast. A Tory government would introduce the measure to help people decide if they were getting genuine value-for-money in return for the tax they pay.

Mr Howard said he wanted to use the concept of Tax Freedom Day to cut the confusion created by stealth taxes.

The day could either be a new Bank Holiday or could replace May Day.

'Simple principle'

Mr Howard argued that the Bank Holiday move would make it easier for voters to comprehend the true size of the tax burden, and note how it changes from year to year.

"You know our public services aren't as good as they should be," he told viewers.

"Yet, because of Labour's spin and stealth taxes, people don't realise just how much tax they are paying."

" It is absolutely not a gimmick - it is a very, very serious proposal " - Tory aide

The concept of Tax Freedom Day - calculated each year by the Adam Smith Institute think-tank - would give people a clearer idea of how much the state takes from their earnings in tax, he said.

"The principle is simple. The more tax the government takes, the later in the year Tax Freedom Day falls. The less tax government takes, the earlier in the year it is.

"Tax Freedom Day is quite simply the day you stop working for the taxman, and start working for yourself ...

"The next Conservative government will make Tax Freedom Day a Bank Holiday, to help you decide whether you get genuine value-for-money, in return for the tax you pay."

'Openness'

Mr Howard accuses the government of introducing a total of 60 tax rises, which together have pushed back Tax Freedom Day from 27 May in 1997 - the year in which Labour came to power - to 9 June by 2005.

He says tax increases had resulted in limited returns, with one million people on NHS waiting lists, one in three children leaving primary school without being able to read, write and count properly, and what he describes as rising crime.

"It's been a cycle of tax and spend and fail. And it's just not good enough," said Mr Howard.

While the Tories say they are not making any promises about cutting taxes, they stress the idea is to bring greater "openness and transparency" to taxation.

One aide said: "We are committed to giving the taxpayer a fair deal. We believe this will create a great discipline...

"It is absolutely not a gimmick - it is a very, very serious proposal. It is absolutely vital that we be open and transparent about how much people are paying," he said.

Conservative Party Political Broadcast will be shown on BBC One on Thursday, 27 November at 2230 GMT

I agree with all you've said. Sometime, in the not too distant future, I'll be moving to the US. Having seen what I can buy there for around £80-£90k, I can sell my UK 3 bedroom bungalow with 3/4 acre of land, buy a 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom fully airconditioned property with an acre of land, & *still* have change left. Also in the states of Florida & Texas, there is no income tax.

Dont you mean no *local* income tax. Isnt there still a federal one?

"Stephen Burke" wrote

Wouldn't that require that *supply* of housing could always keep up with

*demand* ?

I'd have thought that, if there was sudden large demand for houses that didn't exist (eg because enough hadn't been built yet, or simply that the amount of available land restricted the number of houses available), then the prices could be bid-up (well) over the "building cost"...

Yes, but since you can build a house a lot faster than you can grow someone old enough to buy one that would only be a problem if you were looking at massive immigration. Or if there were a divorce epidemic perhaps :)