Cost of living in cities across the world

[Koolau]

Quote:

Originally Posted by trirod I guess it was sometime between 56 years ago when you left England and 21 years ago when I left. Not sure I can define it any closer than that!

I seem to recall (relatively recently) reading a book with a reference to The UK and the book was written before your time frame. I looked briefly in Wikipedia (yeah, I know, I know) and it seemed that the term UK may have been adopted from (originally) The United Kingdom of Great Britan. As of 1922, part of Ireland gained its independence and I BELIEVE (again, gleaning from Wikipedia) that the simple term UK began to be used commonly after that. Of course, many folks still refer to the UK as Great Britain or just Britain. In many circles, it is considered offensive to refer to the UK as "England" as England is just one of the "states" or countries making up the UK.

Now I have told you far more than I actually know about the subject, but honestly I had wondered about this since finding reference to "UK" in that book or publication printed before "my time." So, in any case, YMMV.

[Texas Proud]

I will just say that when I worked in London anybody who was British said they were British.... anybody from Scotland said they were Scottish... anybody from Ireland said they were Irish (and that included North and South)....

There were people with flags of their country on their desks... I never saw a UK flag on anybody's desk... ever...

I had a flag of Texas and most of the people knew what state it represented....


Now, funny thing is there were a lot of people from the 'colonies' such as Auzzie, NZ, South Africa, India etc. and I cannot remember anybody from these countries with a flag.... maybe one... but am not sure...

[kcowan]

The UK includes Northern Ireland.
and North America includes Mexico and 22 other countries...

How many states are in The United States of Mexico?

[Nemo2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Koolau Of course, many folks still refer to the UK as Great Britain or just Britain.

Which was my experience, and then it (seemingly suddenly) morphed into the UK in common parlance.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Koolau In many circles, it is considered offensive to refer to the UK as "England" as England is just one of the "states" or countries making up the UK.

I don't know if there was ever a time, (not in my limited experience anyway), when the individual component parts of the union were not identified by their own names and/or incorrectly designated as 'England'.

[Sunset]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShokWaveRider All in all Florida (Not Miami or Palm Beach) is VERY reasonable. House Taxed are about 50% of what I have seen in Texas, but homes are more expensive. Food is reasonable and quality is OK. One thing I do notice about the US vs Canada for example; is that Supermarkets here in the US look like Farmers market stalls compared to those in Canada. AND the food in Canada for the most part is WAY better quality, especially produce. Milk Eggs and Chicken are way more expensive, other than that costs are comparable. We love walking around Supermarkets in Toronto, it is a pleasure.

+1
Also Canada is very expensive for booze (cheap vodka is $55 for 1.75 L vs $10 in US), but property taxes seem to be about 1/2 of IL property taxes (IL is about the highest property tax rate in US).
Gas in Canada is 25% more expensive after you account for the exchange rate.

[nuke_diver]

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R Same here. Both grocery and restaurant foods are wildly overpriced. Maybe those who provided their data were just tourists eating at rip-off tourist places. Otherwise I really can't imagine where they got those prices.

Yeah there seems to be something strange about the food prices though if they are being consistent (ie pricing is at major grocery chains in each city/country) it would be a baseline. For San Jose they show milk at $3.93 but I haven't paid over $3 for it. But as a LBYM person I also don't go to Safeway and buy everything there.

Hot tip get your veggies at Indian Cash and Carry stores, very fresh very cheap

[explanade]

Organic milk is over $4 for half a gallon.

[Alan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sunset Also Canada is very expensive for booze (cheap vodka is $55 for 1.75 L vs $10 in US), but property taxes seem to be about 1/2 of IL property taxes (IL is about the highest property tax rate in US). Gas in Canada is 25% more expensive after you account for the exchange rate.

Yesterday we bought wine here at around $10/bottle at our local supermarket, we usually spend about $7/bottle for the same stuff in Texas.

We paid the usual $1.30 for a 2 liter bottle of milk (0.53 US Gallon).

When we were driving in Canada last year I noticed how much better the mpg was per tank of gas. I hadn't realized how badly the mandated ethanol in US gas affects the mpg. UK gas was $5.46 at our local gas station yesterday. Fortunately we walk most places, including to the gym.

[Texas Proud]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alan Yesterday we bought wine here at around $10/bottle at our local supermarket, we usually spend about $7/bottle for the same stuff in Texas. We paid the usual $1.30 for a 2 liter bottle of milk (0.53 US Gallon). When we were driving in Canada last year I noticed how much better the mpg was per tank of gas. I hadn't realized how badly the mandated ethanol in US gas affects the mpg. UK gas was $5.46 at our local gas station yesterday. Fortunately we walk most places, including to the gym.

Are you basing it on the Imperial gallon or the US gallon

I did notice you said when driving in Canada, so I would assume the same vehicle... but, looking around the internet gets me this...

The Environmental Protection Agency says E10 lowers mileage approximately 3 percent

Not a huge loss, but enough to make a difference in cost over a year....


Now, something that I also found that I did not know.... the winter blend cost you money also....

In terms of gas mileage, you get better mileage on summer blends than winter blends because the summer blend gasoline has about 2% greater energy value than winter blend. So the gas you are using now most likely has a lower energy value than the gas you used in the winter.

I have never really paid attention to that... but, since we live way down south maybe we do not get the same blend as up north....

[ShokWaveRider]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sunset +1 Also Canada is very expensive for booze (cheap vodka is $55 for 1.75 L vs $10 in US), but property taxes seem to be about 1/2 of IL property taxes (IL is about the highest property tax rate in US). Gas in Canada is 25% more expensive after you account for the exchange rate.

Agreed, but a small price to pay for decent Non-Profit health care (That is Really Affordable, NOT in name only) don't you think?

[braumeister]

Interesting bit in the paper the other day about COL in cities.

I had long been under the impression that the most expensive cities in the US were SF and Boston, and the top one worldwide was London.

But this piece said London has lost its place and is now only #3 in the world, after NYC and Hong Kong.

I wonder if that may be related to the fall of the pound vs the dollar?

[photoguy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShokWaveRider One thing I do notice about the US vs Canada for example; is that Supermarkets here in the US look like Farmers market stalls compared to those in Canada. AND the food in Canada for the most part is WAY better quality, especially produce. Milk Eggs and Chicken are way more expensive, other than that costs are comparable.

Don't forget cheese! In toronto, I paid $15 for the same pack of costco cheese which costs me $7.XX in the US. Really painful when the dollars were at par, only moderately painful now.

Overall my impression is that food is somewhat more expensive in toronto, maybe 20-30% once you account for the exchange rate. But this is just my gut feeling and could easily be wrong. The only thing I noticed that was definitely cheaper in canada was lentils and various legumes. But these are inexpensive items.

In terms of quality, I haven't really noticed much of a difference. But the big thing that annoys me in Canada is that sometimes we have a terrible time find basic ingredients for recipes like ricotta cheese or israeli couscous.

[Nemo2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by photoguy a terrible time find basic ingredients

Recall being in Prague and searching, unsuccessfully, for white vinegar.

[sengsational]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobbieB I tried that site and wrote it off as it said that San Jose was cheaper to live in than Sacramento.

That's because San Jose's Chamber of Commerce got a group together to "correct the data" in Numbeo.

You might do better with your own research:

For food and clothing, it might be more accurate for US comparisons to go to walmart.com and create a pick-up order with groceries, cloths, etc for each city in question. Also more accurate because it's stuff you'll really be buying.

Then go to a specific house in a specific neighborhood that matches your current house using the GIS/Tax system in the alternative city and get the taxes on that example house (apartments are not where I'm at, and center city is not where I'm at).

Then go to gas buddy and get the price of gas in both places.

Go to the state's DOT to get the tax on cars.

I'm not sure how to get a distant home's average utilities...maybe a real-estate site. But you might have to call the current owner of the tax comparison house, lol!

For the restaurants, fitness clubs, etc, you could use numbeo.

[kcowan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nuke_diver But as a LBYM person I also don't go to Safeway and buy everything there. Hot tip get your veggies at Indian Cash and Carry stores, very fresh very cheap

In fact, only the specials are worth considering at Safeway (and perhaps store brands). And in our area, the cash and carry alternatives are Persian not Indian, but with the same bargains on vegetables and better variety too.

[kcowan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sengsational You might do better with your own research: For food and clothing, it might be more accurate for US comparisons to go to walmart.com and create a pick-up order with groceries, cloths, etc for each city in question. Also more accurate because it's stuff you'll really be buying...

When we were evaluating a move to Mexico in 2003 right after retiring, we had a buddy who had already relocated. We used Safeway flyers versus Soriana flyers to compare food, actual experience for wine and liquor and everything else.

It showed a 30% overall savings and at that time when exchange was 7.1 pesos/C$. Now that it is 14.5, savings are more like 50% 13 years later. Some extra inflation in imported goods, but then the imports are mostly from the far east.

We bought in 2007 when it made sense to own and live there 6 months. Savings have been real and the lifestyle is great. No longer "on vacation", we have developed deep relationships with other snowbirds, mostly from the US. The only surprise was that electricity from the national utility costs more in PV than Mazatlan.

[Alan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Texas Proud Are you basing it on the Imperial gallon or the US gallon I did notice you said when driving in Canada, so I would assume the same vehicle... but, looking around the internet gets me this... The Environmental Protection Agency says E10 lowers mileage approximately 3 percent Not a huge loss, but enough to make a difference in cost over a year.... Now, something that I also found that I did not know.... the winter blend cost you money also.... In terms of gas mileage, you get better mileage on summer blends than winter blends because the summer blend gasoline has about 2% greater energy value than winter blend. So the gas you are using now most likely has a lower energy value than the gas you used in the winter. I have never really paid attention to that... but, since we live way down south maybe we do not get the same blend as up north....

The US Gallon, I always translate liters to USG when posting on US forums (milk comes in 2l bottles, which is why I said 0.53 US gallons above).

We drove from Houston to Canada (Vancouver) where we spent 3 months in various locations and it was much bigger difference than 3% in mpg otherwise I wouldn't have noticed - the car (a Golf) shows the mpg in USG which resets every time I fill up. At first I thought it was the type of driving so was sure to pay attention on the way back, after a month in the Canadian Rockies we drove to Glacier NP, where we filled up again and then spent another 2 weeks driving in Glacier and then Yellowstone NP before heading back down to Texas.

[explanade]

Quote:

Originally Posted by photoguy Don't forget cheese! In toronto, I paid $15 for the same pack of costco cheese which costs me $7.XX in the US. Really painful when the dollars were at par, only moderately painful now. Overall my impression is that food is somewhat more expensive in toronto, maybe 20-30% once you account for the exchange rate. But this is just my gut feeling and could easily be wrong. The only thing I noticed that was definitely cheaper in canada was lentils and various legumes. But these are inexpensive items. In terms of quality, I haven't really noticed much of a difference. But the big thing that annoys me in Canada is that sometimes we have a terrible time find basic ingredients for recipes like ricotta cheese or israeli couscous.

Maybe it's more about a big expensive city than the country?

Maybe it's cheaper in smaller Canadian towns?

[kcowan]

Smaller towns can be cheaper for sure. But choices are also less. No neighbourhood Indian or Persian grocery stores. Salaries tend to be lower so it might make sense for retired folks. I find the big cities even more attractive because we can avoid traffic jambs yet enjoy the expanded choices.

[6miths]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alan When we were driving in Canada last year I noticed how much better the mpg was per tank of gas. I hadn't realized how badly the mandated ethanol in US gas affects the mpg.

I'm surprised that it makes a noticeable difference. I haven't appreciated it on drives from Toronto to Florida or when I happen to fill up when I am in the US. That said, I wouldn't be paying that close of attention and my tendency to be driving more slowly in the US probably more than compensates for any difference in energy content in the fuel. Canadian gas is 5% ethanol generally with premium fuel often being ethanol free.