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Hey guys, first just wanted to say I've been reading this forum for the last few days and it has provided so much good information, which is why I thought registering and actually asking some questions would be even better
I'm a software engineer in Australia, and I've been offered a job at Amazon in Seattle. It sounds like an amazing opportunity, but I've got heaps of questions.
Firstly I have no idea what the cost of living is like in America, let alone in Seattle. The package I was offered is around the 100k mark, and I'd really like to get an indication of how much of that will actually be disposable income after tax, health plan, any other costs I'm not aware of etc. Could someone please break it down for me? And is that a good salary for a software engineer with just over 2 years professional experience?
I'm assuming most people put about 10% of their salary into 401k? That's pretty much the normal in Australia.
I've also heard its really hard to get a credit card when you move from overseas and don't have a credit rating. If so, is there anyone here who has gone through a similar move and has any advice on accessing money once you get to the States?
So once I've sorted out how much disposable income I can count on, and how I'm going to access my money, I guess I'll need to find an apartment. Are there any traps for international movers when applying for apartments? Or will leasing agencies treat me like any other American?
Give all of that, does anyone have any recommendations about how much I should be looking to pay for an apartment? I've been looking around the SLU area just because it's close to the Amazon campus, but most of the nice places seem to be around $2000/month. Is SLU a fairly expensive area? Any recommendations for other areas to look at?
Thank you so much to anyone who takes the time to answer any of those questions, or provide any advice on something I haven't even considered asking
Congrats on your job offer! I'm from the UK and moved to the states when I was 14, so obviously a very different situation than you! However, I'm moving to Seattle next month (from Houston, Texas) so I can probably help a bit with some of the move questions. Unlike you, I don't have a job lined up, but plenty of savings to get me by for the next year.
Seattle is one of America's more expensive cities, but it's mostly for housing. Everything else is not horrendously more than most other cities. On your salary of $100K, you will have no problem finding a really nice place to live AND have plenty left over - well, I guess it does depend on how much you spend overall and the lifestyle you choose to live. But for most people, that is a big salary and I would think it is a good one for a software engineer with two years experience, although someone in that industry would be better at determining that!
Washington has no state income tax, so you will only have federal taxes taken out of your cheques. I'm not sure what tax bracket you would be in for that salary though. 10% is probably about right on 401K - at least that's how much I put in. Also, Amazon might match a % you put in. At my job in Texas they match 3% of up to 6% you put in. The other tax you will be exposed to is sales tax, which is 9.5% and applied to most things you buy. Petrol costs are higher than most places in the US due to a higher tax and the distance to transport it. It's roughly 30 cents higher per gallon.
South Lake Union has become an expensive area due to the recent boom in development, mostly by Amazon. From what I understand, it used to be fairly industrial. Overall, Seattle is a pretty compact city so you wouldn't necessarily have to live in SLU in order to have a short commute or for it to be walkable/bikeable, if that's your thing.
Not sure on the credit card thing, so I can't help you there. I wouldn't think it would be difficult though since you would be here legally and all. Same for renting an apartment. I mean, I was able to rent one and I don't even have a job up there yet!
Well good luck with your move and I hope some of that was somewhat helpful! I'm sure others will chime in with specifics on some of the things I have no clue about!
Hi we moved from the UK in 2010 so have some experience of the issues involved. But we are a large family and so had different priorities.
Getting credit and building a credit history in the US is a *big* deal. You will probably get a lot more info on an Expats site. I got a lot of info on this subject from Britishexpats.com ... have a look at the many threads and their Wiki to find out the best options.
You should be able to get a bank account soon after arrival, perhaps even before your SSN is issued. You can then get a Secured Credit card to start building US credit history, but you'll have to put down your own money and stay well within that limit.
I would suggest trying to get a USD Amex card before leaving Australia if you can, that will be based off your current credit history and so will actually be useful. Or try and transfer a current Amex across.
I heard that Amazon also pays up to a $35K joining bonus? I'd plan on using that for 'credit' until you can establish a history (12m to 18m minimum).
Wish I'd applied to Amazon myself as their pay level sounds terrific! But I think you have to pay for your own medical insurance and pension?
Wow, 100K plus a big bonus after only 2 years experience?? I went into the wrong field. You are one lucky individual. Another good site to look at about establishing credit is myfico.com, but do the expat boards first as suggested above. My neighbors happen to be a young married couple from Australia -- they make great salaries at Boeing, but found the credit thing prevents them from buying a house at the moment. Thus, they are saving up, took out credit cards in order to build a credit score, paying all bills on time, etc... I think 12-18 months to establish credit is accurate. In the meantime, you won't have a problem either finding a rental (apt) and saving money. Congrats, and welcome!
Thanks heaps for all the responses everyone it's amazing how active and helpful everyone in this forum is.
By the way, what's Seattle like traffic wise? Is it at all possible to drive into SLU every day? Or is that something worth avoiding at all costs? Obviously I'd prefer to just live close by and walk/ride to work, but I might as well explore as many options as possible.
Thanks heaps for all the responses everyone it's amazing how active and helpful everyone in this forum is.
By the way, what's Seattle like traffic wise? Is it at all possible to drive into SLU every day? Or is that something worth avoiding at all costs? Obviously I'd prefer to just live close by and walk/ride to work, but I might as well explore as many options as possible.
Driving into the SLU area is possible, just not very desirable. Traffic is backed up going into the city pretty much from 6:30 AM until about 7 PM every workday, and the backup can extend very far north, around Northgate all the way south through downtown.
However you could take WA-99 (state highway 99, aka Aurora Boulevard) into the city. I'm not sure what that's like traffic wise going into the SLU area, since I've never commuted into the city before.
If you can find an apartment close by that's probably the best area. Eastlake is a nice area with some shops and a few restaurants, and it's a short drive / bus ride / bike ride to the U district and Wallingford, where more shops are, and of course a short bike ride to downtown.
RE: health plan, 401k, etc. you don't have to worry about it if you're making 100k and you're renting. You won't be able to afford a house yet. You need to make some serious $ to afford a house in the city that's worth living in.
And yes, 10% is standard for a 401k here, but for a young single guy living spartanly in the city, I'd say you could probably bump into the annual limits, which is 17k a year. After that if you still have more savings, it's up to you to dump it into a Roth IRA or other savings route, or simply save up to buy that house.
I've broken down costs before on other threads. You can check them out. For a single guy I figure it breaks down like this:
Apartment: $1300 for a studio or 1 br. No need for more. If you really wnat to live cheap, find roommates.
Car: assuming you buy new, $400 a month with gas, maintenance, and loan payment rolled up ...
OR - bus fare: buy an Orca card and do a 1-zone monthly for ~90 a month.
Food: Assuming you go to bars, eat out occasionally, and buy groceries, it is doable for around $500 a month. Maybe 600.
Utilities: Varies, maybe $175 a month if you live in an apartment.
Cell phone, TV, internet, etc: comes out to around $200 a month if you're spendy.
Health care: You shouldn't have to worry about this. I think Amazon should have good benefits and you only have to pay co-pay when you visit a doctor, usually around $15 a visit. If you have medical issues it might get spendier, but it's rare for people to spend more than $1000 a year in medical costs when they're young, and that's a bad year (like my wife last year, finally forced her to see a dentist, yeowch!, but then again, I like my out of network dentist, if I saw an in-network dentist it would have been dramatically cheaper). Just lay off the fast food and go jogging and work out in the gyms and you should be fine.
The streets around the Amazon campus can get pretty packed as a result. There are Seattle police officers on hand just to let people out of their parking garages so that they can enter the gridlocked surface streets. Bus service directly to SLU is generally abysmal (not sure why?), but the Amazon shuttles and the Seattle Streetcar provide access to the downtown mass transit hubs.
Quote:
Originally Posted by eskercurve
Driving into the SLU area is possible, just not very desirable. Traffic is backed up going into the city pretty much from 6:30 AM until about 7 PM every workday, and the backup can extend very far north, around Northgate all the way south through downtown.
I think eskercurve's cost of living estimates are on the mark. You can easily spend more on housing...or less - it just depends on what you want. I wouldn't drive to SLU. The Mercer Mess is truly a mess. Bike, walk or bus it. Neighborhoods are all personal preference, but single male makes me think downtown, capitol hill, ballard, lower queen anne, belltown, fremont. All are a single bus / biking distance from SLU. Good luck! From a pay perspective, my take home after taxes, retirement, healthcare, transportation, social security ends up being about 2/3 of gross pay - that might be a reasonable rule of thumb on the the take-home livable money you'll have. It's a great starting salary. Congrats!
Hi stevev88! My husband has also been offered a job with Amazon (we are in Melbourne) and I've been doing a bit of research about Seattle and the US, which is how I came across this post.
Suburb-wise we'd probably be looking at Queen Anne, Belltown, Eastlake and Westlake, and prices for what we're after (2br, modern, views, hardwood floors, cat friendly) seem to range $2000-2500ish which are slightly higher than rental prices in Melbourne but more or less comparable.
US taxes seem to be lower, and aside from housing costs, COL seems to generally be a little bit lower. So I would guess that your salary would get you roughly the same lifestyle (or slightly better) than it would in Sydney or Melbourne.
Suburb-wise we'd probably be looking at Queen Anne, Belltown, Eastlake and Westlake, and prices for what we're after (2br, modern, views, hardwood floors, cat friendly) seem to range $2000-2500ish which are slightly higher than rental prices in Melbourne but more or less comparable.
They're actually "neighborhoods", not suburbs. In addition to those, the OP should also check into Capitol Hill, Wallingford, Ballard. University District, if he's college aged; if not, then yes, he'll want to stay out, LOL. It is definitely possible to find something less than 2K/mo, but would take time finding exactly the one place that works for you.
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I'm from the UK and moved to the states when I was 14, so obviously a very different situation than you! However, I'm moving to Seattle next month (from Houston, Texas) so I can probably help a bit with some of the move questions. Unlike you, I don't have a job lined up, but plenty of savings to get me by for the next year.
Bus service directly to SLU is generally abysmal (not sure why?), but the Amazon shuttles and the Seattle Streetcar provide access to the downtown mass transit hubs. 
