Bills bills bills! (Boston, Chicopee, Reading: apartment, rentals, health insurance)

[wensleydaleuk]

Hi All!

Currently living in the UK but had the great news this week that my H1B visa application has been selected in the annual lottery. This has started our in depth research and one of the places in the US that I have always loved to visit is Boston and Mass in general.

We are trying to work out roughly how our monthly budget would look but we are struggling to find good resources. As a bit of background - I am married with 3 young children (ages are 7, 5 and 1), we would need a 4 bed house. I would really appreciate it if anyone has any information regarding general household bills for this scenario, utlitlies, internet, tv subscription, 2 x cell phones, any insurances, any other taxes/bills I've missed!

Any help would be amazing and very gratefully received! thank you!

[Dm84]

There's way too many variables to give you an accurate answer about this.

In general things are less expensive here than the UK.

[Partial Observer]

You should be able to find a 4-bedroom house in Chicopee or Concord in your price range. Your monthly utility and insurance bills will be exactly $2,000, unless you opt for FIOS Quantum, in which case I'd budget a bit more.

[BostonMike7]

Originally Posted by Dm84

There's way too many variables to give you an accurate answer about this.

^this


It will vary from town to town as taxes and local utility costs can vary. For instance, my monthly water bill is to the tune of $30/month, while my friends who live not too far from me in Reading pay $300ish a month.

[Cape Cod Todd]

As others have written there is a lot of variables in your question.
In general when renting a house you are looking at about $600 per bedroom. A 4 bedroom house is good sized and will cost more to heat and cool. This cost will vary depending on the heating source being gas or oil or electric.
In America most long term rentals do not come with furniture so you will need to buy your own. They do come with kitchen appliances.

Cable and internet bill can be up to $200.
Grocery bill per week can also be up to $200+ for a family of 5.

Will you be buying a car to get around with? If you are outside the city you will need one if you are inside the city the costs of living are higher than stated above.

It would help if you can narrow down your search inquiries to a few towns.

[in_newengland]

Boston area is very expensive. The rest of the state, less so, probably about the same as the UK on the average. Boston is not as expensive as London though--nothing is as expensive as London!

We travel to the UK as dh is English and find that most things are more expensive here. Less expensive here are clothing and petrol.

We don't buy tv licences but we pay through the nose for cable tv. Cheapest basic economy tv/internet might be about $90/month but it varies from town to town. You can save by bundling your tv with your internet but it's still expensive.

For heating, look for gas, then oil, and never electric. Heating is expensive and you'll need a/c in the summer.

Cell phone service is similar to UK--you can save if you go pre-paid but it's more expensive than in the UK. T-Mobile has a sign in their window for $100/month for two lines. Prepaid is $40 for one line.

A four bedroom house is going to be expensive, if you can even find one for rent. Rent for a one bedroom house is probably $1200 and up per month.

Please give us more details as to where you might live so that people can be of more help.

[charolastra00]

What is your field? Where do you anticipate working?

In Eastern Mass (i.e. within an hour of Boston), I would expect at least $2500-3000 a month plus utilities for a 4 bedroom in suburban towns with decent school systems (you may definitely be able to find cheaper though, especially if your work location is in the suburbs). You will likely need a car as well - outside of the city, public transit isn't as robust as it is in the UK. Internet+cable can be had for around $100-150 a month. As others mentioned, go for gas heat if you can. Keeping my small apartment at a max of 65 all winter cost $1200 this winter on oil, but we also had our heat kicking in even in early April so this was a particularly brutal winter for temps.

Health insurance and high costs for healthcare are also something to consider, depending on what kind of plan your employer offers. For example, my employer plan is pretty good and is $180 a month for a single, ~$500 a month for a family with $20 copays, $100 for surgeries or hospitalizations, $75 for most scans plus a range for prescription meds.

I lived in London in 2008 and actually found many things to be cheaper there, TBH. Like good cheese. :P Then again, I didn't have a car and was happy renting with many roommates. NHS and strong public transit would have made relative higher costs of living in London moot compared to Boston for me.