UK Nurse in Vermont (Burlington, Springfield: real estate, health insurance, low crime)

mattpark19 · 07-27-2006, 10:14 AM

Hi everyone,
I'm a nurse with a wife, 2 1/2 yr old daughter and another baby due in November.
Fed up with "Rip Off Britain" we are looking to move to the USA, in particular New England. From searching the net and toursist info sites vermont seems to be our target.
Looking at real estate sites we could afford a reasonable home, however we have no idea what the cost of living is over there in vermont and does it differ greatly from other states in new England? i.e : utilities, taxes etc. From what I can see rates of pay for nurses are far greater than here in the UK, but our worry is that this is proportionate to the cost of living.

Is there anybody out there (maybe even an english nurse) who can give us a few pointers?!?!?

Cheers

Matt

patricew · 08-08-2006, 08:31 PM

Hi! I am a nurse in Vt's largest "city", Burlington which had the only large (450 bed) hospital in the state. Burlington is lovely, on Lake Champlain (6th largest lake in the US) Gets very cold here in the winter... Cost of living is quite high compared to other parts of the US. The whole northeast of the US has a high cost of living... No public transportation except in the few larger cities. Having a car for each working member of the family is a must. I put 20,000 miles per year on my car and that is typical for most people here. Something to think about with rising fuel costs. Also high costs to heat your home- and it is chilly to frigid from Sept. to April. But the landscape is beautiful, lots of forests and mountains for hiking and skiing. Most people very friendly . Air is clean, very low crime rate, pretty good schools. Nurses with experience always in high demand, full time starting salaries better than most other jobs in VT ( probably 40-50,000 per year full time with fair benefits. No free health care in the US!) Let me know if I can be of any help!! Patrice

mattpark19 · 08-13-2006, 12:21 AM

Thanks Patrice
Is there much difference with the climate the more south you go in Vt or is it pretty much the same?
I have been told by many americans that the cost of living is higher in Vt than most other places in the US but from what I hear not as high as it is in the UK, do you know of any UK nurses who have moved to live and work in Vt or other New England states that you could put me in contact with?
I'm trying to be as realistic as possible when it comes to finances, my wife is also a nurse but the big plan was that she would not work initially uintil we have settled the children in - however I'm not sure this is going to be a viable option, living off just my salary! I have been a nurse in the UK for past 7 yrs and have worked my way quite far up the pay scale currently on £25,500 (approx US $47,000), do you think that my UK experience would count for much in Vt or would I pretty much start out as a "new starter"?
Any information is greatfully recieved
Matt

victoriana · 08-13-2006, 10:49 AM

Hey Matt - My husband is also from the UK - been in U.S. (with me and married) now for a long time. Vermont is one of the most expensive places to live in the U.S. - what you heard is correct. It is absolutely lovely. Burlington, in particular, as it is the city and has absolutely everything plus marvelous scenery and location is VERY expensive. Nurses we know do not make enough on one salary when they have worked there to really "live the lifestyle" of Vermont, if you know what I mean. You will find that many Brits gravitate to Oregon and Washington state - climate is pretty much the same as many parts of England. You'll find stores with Oxo, PG Tips, Bisto, etc. all over the place. RNs do very well in both states and there are lots of jobs. Any questions, I'll be happy to answer. (By the way, we lived in Springfield, VT. for two years awhile back and worked at Springfield Hospital, so I do know a little.) Help in any way I can. We can probably answer lots of your questions. Several nurses from England have tried recently to get over to Amarillo, TX but find they have to wait a year - Homeland Security stuff and regs are different now.

mattpark19 · 08-14-2006, 03:10 PM

Thanks Victorianna,
I suppose there's good news and bad news in what u said!
Vt was our choice from the New England states as we have read and heard so many great things about it. We prefer to stay North East as it is closer to home e.g flights for us to go home and family to visit us etc. I have registered with a UK nursing agency called Stateside UK which work closely with a number of Vt medical centres but haven't specified where so I am unsure of where to really look at.
I know we will not be "well off" to start with but this I could deal with until we settled in.
Our main reason for moving is the ridiculous cost of living in the UK (we live near Manchester at present) and have heard that despite Vt's reputation as being expensive for the US, is it expensive compared to the UK in terms of taxes, utility bills ,car prices/insurance medical insurance (although I would hope to get this as a perk of the job).
We have been looking as a guideline at properties around the $200,000 mark which seem very adequate for our purpose, however we are unaware of other costs as mentioned above.
Any comments are gratfully recieved.
Matt

MagpiesMagpiesMagpies · 08-15-2006, 03:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mattpark19

Hi everyone,
I'm a nurse with a wife, 2 1/2 yr old daughter and another baby due in November.
Fed up with "Rip Off Britain" we are looking to move to the USA, in particular New England. From searching the net and toursist info sites vermont seems to be our target.
Looking at real estate sites we could afford a reasonable home, however we have no idea what the cost of living is over there in vermont and does it differ greatly from other states in new England? i.e : utilities, taxes etc. From what I can see rates of pay for nurses are far greater than here in the UK, but our worry is that this is proportionate to the cost of living.

Is there anybody out there (maybe even an english nurse) who can give us a few pointers?!?!?

Cheers

Matt

Hi Matt,

When evaluating the cost of a home, don't forget to bake the property tax bill into your assumption. You'll find local property taxes to be proportionally much higher than UK council tax. And Vermont is one of the high-tax states as I understand.

When you've identified a list of places you'd like to target, you should go to the municipal websites and look at the tax rates from the Assessor's office.

Vermont is a lovely state, by the way.

Magpies

mattpark19 · 08-15-2006, 09:33 AM

Thanks Magpies!
I found a web site that estimated that a homestead tax on a property of $200,000 would be approx $5000 per year. As you said this is much higher than a UK council tax (we pay approx £1100 - $2000 per yr) however, its the other things like utilities (gas, water and electric) and car running costs which hopefully are lower, at present fuel costs £1 per litre ($1.90) is that expensive to you guys???? then we pay car tax £120 ($228) per year, insurance is around £600 ($1140) per year. TV licences are around £100 ($190) a year. Then theres clothing, food and everything else you might need that is notoriously ridiculously expensive in the UK!!!!!!
At this point I must say as much as I want to leave it, I do love being English!!!!!!

MagpiesMagpiesMagpies · 08-15-2006, 01:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mattpark19

Thanks Magpies!
I found a web site that estimated that a homestead tax on a property of $200,000 would be approx $5000 per year. As you said this is much higher than a UK council tax (we pay approx £1100 - $2000 per yr) however, its the other things like utilities (gas, water and electric) and car running costs which hopefully are lower, at present fuel costs £1 per litre ($1.90) is that expensive to you guys???? then we pay car tax £120 ($228) per year, insurance is around £600 ($1140) per year. TV licences are around £100 ($190) a year. Then theres clothing, food and everything else you might need that is notoriously ridiculously expensive in the UK!!!!!!
At this point I must say as much as I want to leave it, I do love being English!!!!!!

As in all things, you give up something for what you get. Everything's a tradeoff.

Overall the cost of living you'll find is lower in the States, absolutely. Mercifully we don't have to pay for TV licenses, which is good given the quality of network telly! Petrol is much cheaper, where I'm at it's about $3.20 per gallon (about 50p per litre), but you will probably burn more of it because this is a car culture and you really can't get anything done here without driving. So bottom line you'll probably spend the same in fuel.

Clothes are definitely much cheaper. But this country is "fashion impaired" compared to Britain, so your choice is limited. High fashion doesn't come any cheaper here. But if you're a no nonsense jeans & t-shirt kinda guy you'll pay much less here than there. In my experience is the cost of food is pretty much the same.

There are hidden costs that you should account for. Depending on your situation medical care and prescriptions can give you a nasty shock coming from someone who was on the NHS. Likewise, if you have kids that need daycare it can be miles more expensive here than in Britain.

To finalise the list of what you'll give up: there's no real football, driving in a circle passes for motor sport, and if you have a craving for a Marmite sandwich you'll have to get your family to mail one to you.

Hope this gives you a little input on your decision making.

Best of luck.
Magpies

mattpark19 · 08-15-2006, 01:17 PM

Thanks Magpies!
Marmite!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'd rather chew on a kids daiper!!!!!
As far as medical expenses and insurances I was hoping that as a nurse the agency or medical centre that I get work with may give me a freebie as a perk of the job!!!
Like everthing in life, i'll never know til I do it!!!

MagpiesMagpiesMagpies · 08-15-2006, 02:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mattpark19

Thanks Magpies!
Marmite!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'd rather chew on a kids daiper!!!!!
As far as medical expenses and insurances I was hoping that as a nurse the agency or medical centre that I get work with may give me a freebie as a perk of the job!!!
Like everthing in life, i'll never know til I do it!!!

Marmite with egg & cheese on toast it's positively scrummy, IMHO! Like the ad says, "you love it or you hate it". So that's one thing you won't miss.

Health insurance is usually a benefit of employment, but the coverage can vary hugely. Some plans restrict you to a network of providers, and some have huge deductibles before benefits kick in. Be sure to take this into consideration with any offer of employment. It's one of those things beyond salary that can make an offer a good one or a poor one.

I worked for a managed care system years ago and wound up paying $3000 out of pocket for emergency dental work, so just being a healthcare employee may not give you an advantage. Again, it depends on the employer.

Magpies