How unexpensive is USA compared to the rest of the world? (apartment, violent crime)

[foadi]

for me as a business traveller, the US is incredibly good value. here in california, standard 3* business hotel (residence inn, staybridge suites, etc) via priceline bidding system is $45/night give or take a few. rental car avgs out to $20/day (currently have 2011 hundyai elantra ... very nice car). Avg food expensives comes out to $15/day, eating in nice places too, altho i do get free breakfast most hotels.

i cant think of any other country where i can find these prices for such luxury. far more expensive almost everywhere else.

[Tiger Beer]

Pizza is a whole lot cheaper in the U.S.!

Here in Japan, Dominos delivers one large pizza for about $30. Same for pick-up.

Recently I was visiting Sri Lanka, a supposedly cheap country....I was getting cheap terrible pizzas for about $6 - but individual little personal style pizzas.....nothing to them.

Whereas, in the U.S., PIZZA PIZZA - two large pizzas at Little Caesars for $4.99 !!!

[foadi]

Originally Posted by Tiger Beer

Whereas, in the U.S., PIZZA PIZZA - two large pizzas at Little Caesars for $4.99 !!!

never seen it that cheap. i had litttle caesars a couple nights ago. $5 for 1 large pizza. came out to $9 for a large pizza, a two litre soda, craz bread and craz sauce. good for two or more ppl. that mixed w free breakfast means my total costs for food that day were $4.50. very good value.

[SophieLL]

4.99 for 2 pizzas????

Here with 5 pesos you can only buy a cheap candy bar in the supermarket.

1 pizza in a cheap place will cost $25.


But reading through the data you posted i see appartments to buy are MUCH more expensive there. So, that is a relief, at least BA is not more expensive in everything.

A cousin of mine just bought a one bedroom appartment 50m2 with a balcnony in a 11th floor with a view of all the city, and amenities like a swimming pool, laundry, in a very nice neighbourhood for $96.000-
It is expensive compared to the rest of Argentina (with that money you can buy 2 stores mansions in some cities) but unexpensive compared to USA.


Of course, we dont earn in dollars

[SophieLL]

Originally Posted by foadi

never seen it that cheap. i had litttle caesars a couple nights ago. $5 for 1 large pizza. came out to $9 for a large pizza, a two litre soda, craz bread and craz sauce. good for two or more ppl. that mixed w free breakfast means my total costs for food that day were $4.50. very good value.

$4.50 cost of food for all day?? I envy you!

[elnina]

Dinner in a fancy restaurant for $30-50 is not expensive.
Food is cheap, but its not a quality food - cheap is only junk food. One cannot compare junk food that barely resemble food with the real stuff that is way more expensive.
You want to live on $5 a day? Pizza every day and soda? Even a hamburger 3 x a day + soda cost more. Again, plastic junk food. No, I would not envy you at all!
You would have to cook everyday to stay on a thigh budget.

Clothes are cheaper too... but we are talking Walmart or such. Bad quality, that fall apart after few washes. Remember - you get what you pay for. Cheap stuff is available, but it does not last, so you need to buy it more often.
Housing is more expensive here, and utility too.

Gas is cheaper, yes. Especially compared to Europe. But you need to think about the distances and the need of use. In Europe everything is fairly close, and many people use public transportation for everyday commute. To compare it more realistic, you need to think how much gas you use a month.
Here in Texas I need to fill my tank every 2-3 weeks. That's $60 a tank. Makes about $100 a month.That's me. Just a regular commute ( public transportation sucks, so you are dependent on car).
I doubt that average European spend so much money on gas every month.

According to CNN Money:
average monthly cost of gas is $368
Gas prices eat up $368 a month of your income - May. 5, 2011

Health care is expensive here, even if you have insurance.
Car insurance is expensive.
Quality repairs, regular handyman, maid/housekeeper are more expensive here.

School tuition and books are expensive.

So, you cannot look at $5 pizza or $1 burger and say: oh, living in the US is sooooooo cheap!

Sure, living in some other countries is more expensive, but again - you need to see the details, not just compare dollars to dollars, or pesos.

[SophieLL]

Then again, education here is free.

And with education i mean not only high school and primary school. I mean University education. The most prestigious University (College) here , UBA (University of Buenos Aires) is free.

So i guess we make up the high prices in other things with that. I know a lot of latinamerican (specially colombians) that came here to study cause University there costs a lot! And here is free (and a good university, too, one of the top of latinamericans).
I know in USA, college is expensive.

[elnina]

Originally Posted by danielsa1775

I think our poster means costs are very low relative to incomes. I get the same message the poster is getting from reading this forum, that the USA is an absolute bargin compared to say Western Europe , Japan or Australia, where incomes are quite similar to the USA.

Edit: Sorry to the poster I was typing this at the same time you submitted your reply

You are absolutely right - we cannot just compare prices here and there. We need to know an average income in Buenos Aires. And then of course BA is an expensive city, other smaller cities or living in the rural areas is probably way cheaper.
We all know that living in Manhattan or San Francisco is much more expensive than, say in Kansas City or San Antonio. So, yes - one needs to make a decent money to live there. If someone makes just about a minimum wages then living in every big city is a struggle.

[SophieLL]

minimum wage here is $1,800, but a lot of people get paid a lot less.

with 1,800 in BA your pretty much screwed. Though you can rent a place if you reunite more people and go to a very far neighbourhood or to a house when you rent a room, etcétera. But food (supermarket) is waaay too expensive.
Maybe if you live in one of the cheap neighbourhood you could live with $1,800. I really dont know.

[cmptrwlt]

Originally Posted by elnina

Gas is cheaper, yes. Especially compared to Europe. But you need to think about the distances and the need of use. In Europe everything is fairly close, and many people use public transportation for everyday commute. To compare it more realistic, you need to think how much gas you use a month.
Here in Texas I need to fill my tank every 2-3 weeks. That's $60 a tank. Makes about $100 a month.That's me. Just a regular commute ( public transportation sucks, so you are dependent on car).
I doubt that average European spend so much money on gas every month.

According to CNN Money:
average monthly cost of gas is $368
Gas prices eat up $368 a month of your income - May. 5, 2011

Cars are inexpensive in the U.S. The same goes for fuel. Driving a gas-guzzler (SUV, V8 engine, and so on) is still quite expensive, though.

At least five of my colleagues spend over $400 on commute per month (they live one hour from Oslo). Driving to work is a nightmare, unless you want to work from 7-3. The infrastructure in the Oslo region is a joke.

I used to spend over $220 per month five years ago. Now, I get away with $100.