Presumably this individual could earn similar salary in other parts of the world, and live a much higher standard than what he can in Perth. However, with that comes other sacrifices.
Exactly.
On a domestic level it seems ridiculous that he wouldn't be able to afford a property in close proximity to the city with a 170k salary. However, think about it from an American perspective.
Cliffs-
Earning 65k in America gets you a much better lifestyle than 100k will get you in Australia.
" So this is going to be a long post from me but couldn?t help sharing my side of the story. For someone who has stayed as a migrant in both countries (9 years in US & 3 years in AU ) I feel that if you are a low income earner or someone on a minimum wage then Australia is definitely a better place to be in, than US because here you have access to free healthcare, almost free access to learn new skills and take up new courses e.g.TAFE , traineeships, apprenticeships. Home ownerships for low-income owner in both countries is difficult.
But if you are someone working in a white collared job earning more than average wage. e.g. a university professor , a research scientist in a biotech firm, Software developer, Business Analyst, Data analyst ,a Banker, lawyers, doctor etc, jobs which require a professional qualification (MBA,Masters, Phd) you are better off in US than here. You get more bang for your money.I have never lived in the bigger cities like LA, New York, SFO, Seattle in US nor am I living in the big cities like Melbourne, Sydney or Perth here so I won?t compare cost of living for these cities. I have stayed in smaller cities like Denver & Salt lake city in US and Geelong in Australia both comparable cities in terms of population and land area.
To give you an example of cost of living in the 2 cities, in 2010 when I was leaving US to come here I sold my 2-year-old Honda Civic automatic car for $7000. But when I tried to buy a similar 2year old Automatic Honda car here they were all priced at 16k+ (I was expecting around 10k here assuming how everything is more expensIve here than in US). Finally I ended up buying a 2001 Honda civic automatic which already had more than 100k km,for $9550 and that?s when I realized its going to be tough here, I knew that prices of car in Australia will be more than in US but more than twice and that also for second hand car phew.
I rented a 2BHK unit in Denver (again not a big city but a capital city) and I was paying around $800pm (in decent neighborhood) and the rental place came with a dishwasher, double door refrigerator, a washer, dryer and water bill included. Here I stay in Geelong (a regional town) paying $1330pm for a 2bed unit in a comparable neighborhood to the one in Denver where I stayed which is an average neighborhood and not some expensive locations like highton, waurnponds, newtown or the waterfront which command some really high rent here. Except for gas stove the rental unit had nothing included. I had to buy a refrigerator; washer just bought the dishwasher few months back. So definitely more bang for the rent.
I pay there than I pay here.
Now my salary here is more than what I was earning in Denver but after paying taxes, utilities, rent and covering other daily expenses I end up saving almost same if not more and my lifestyle has taken a backseat so that I am able to save that same amount of money. We used to eat out 2-3 times a week in US, now only once a week.It was cheaper to go on a vacation there than it is here. Over here we only go for day trips and carry lunch and other munching items with us. Holidays are expensive here and we learnt it the hard way when we went on our first vacation for 3 days to Gold coast. It cost us a fortune and from that time onwards vacations are day trips with homemade food. And going out for movies don?t even get me started something that was done once every fortnight since coming here and seeing the ticket prices we have actually given up going to movie theatres. Just once in 3-4 months.Also in US you always had the option of dollar theatres for movies for which you did not feel like spending $10.
In US my health insurance was paid by my employer, which included my family and me and it covered dental insurance .Here we have Medicare but that is not free I pay for it during tax time and again I have to pay part amount for any doctor visit so its not entirely free. But I am happy with the medicare system here as it gives people on low-income access to health services without any heavy bills.
At the end of the day when I compare my lifestyle there and here for me I had a much better lifestyle on a 65k salary in Denver than I am having on 100k salary here and this in a regional city like Geelong , can?t even imagine what it is like to stay in big cities like Melbourne & Sydney. But all said and done we like Australia especially Geelong, you get more sunny days here, winter not too severe,have made some wonderful friends here, love the work I am doing so at the moment we are happy here. How long we will be here not sure but definitely looking at moving back to US in long term.".
