How much does life in America costs?

[Anthony and Becky 6]

705 USD monthly earned between 2 persons is too low.

A friend of mine who lives in Albuquerque is earning 2,000 USD monthly, he earns in a week what I earn in a whole month! That's why we're leaving, but I'm realizing right now that we are going to expend a lot more there. Confusing.

It's all relative. You're earning $705 USD per month, but your monthly expenses are next to nothing.

[kamw 93]

It's going to be a lot more to start but give it time and you'll be see the benefit. Once you're here you'll get a better view of prices and you can look into the best areas to be in. Also your starting salary might be less but once you start working and getting experience you'll get better paying opportunities.

[Ash.1101 1,755]

I'm in San Antonio. I've lived here most my life.

I have a two bedroom apartment on the north central side that originally started at 675$ per month, it is now at 800$. I'll most likely be moving next year into house to rent next year, looking between 800-900$. If I don't rent a house, I'll rent an appartment for most likely 775-850$. For the side of San Antonio I'm on, that's on the cheap end, if I moved to another side of San Antonio, it could be considered more expensive. Location changes pricing, no matter what.

Elecrtic bill during the summer at the MAX is 130$. During the winter the LOWEST is 50$.
Water/Gas/Trash is about 54$ a month.

Car insurance is 48$, but I'm also female, above 25, without a bad driving history AND I have USAA, which is generally one of the cheapest you can get.
Renters insurance is 20$, also through USAA, but required by my apartment complex to have.

San Antonio is massively growing atm, the job outlook is good, there ARE jobs if you're willing to work them 100%.


As for the person saying the generic guesses of 350$ for a two bedroom. I don't think I've ever seen that in SA. The cheapest 2 bedroom's I've seen are in the 500$s, and they're in very crime ridden areas and generally aren't kept up even before move in.

Honestly though, if you're looking at 1900 a month which is say about 12$ , it's not that bad in San Antonio. My exhusband works at a place that cuts and does lenses and frames for glasses and makes 12$ an hour, he got hired there after working for target.
My mom got a job through a temp agency and was making 13$ after they hired her full time, she started at 11$. She now works elsewhere for 12$ an hour.

Walmart's min wage is 9$ and hour, some retail places will be 9$ an hour, other's will be at the minimum wage but if you have any skills or trades that make you stand out you SHOULD be able to find something. Some area's have Bill Millers (BBQ fastfood type joint) that start at 10$ an hour, others start at 9$.




Honestly though, your best bet to find out what you can get, is to shop around by looking at cities, looking at apartments and their pricing, and looking at jobs in the area as to what they can do and what they pay. Everyone has to do it at some point. My fiance already has an idea of what he'll probably be paid once he's here just based off his previous experiences and the jobs he knows he can do, basing off that has allowed us to know what we can probably manage for a rented home. Check out places like indeed.com for jobs, apartments.com or rent.com for places to rent.

As for electric bills, it'll depend on the size and location of where you live, other bills will be the same.

Insurances will depend on your previous history, age, and color of your car (red gets a higher monthly payment-more likely to be pulled over), and then as always, the insurance company itself.

Rent - 800$ (2bedroom)
Water/gas/trash - 54$
Electricity - Max 130 (some houses go up to 200-300$) Min 50
Car insurance - 48
Renters - 20
-----------------------------
952$ PER MONTH

THAT IS WITHOUT, cable and internet, FOOD, GAS, MEDICAL INSURANCE, anything that doesn't pretain DIRECTLY to the house.

You'll also have to register your car here, if you don't have your bill of sell or it's not currently registered or you do it past 30 days of moving to Texas you're looking at AT LEAST 200$, for the registration the sales tax if you don't have current registration or do it iwthin 30 days of moving, they will base sales tax off of like 6% of the cost of your car.

Also you will have deposits on Cable and electricity if you have no credit or income when you come here.

Either way, I'd say try to at least make 1400 a month, which is doable, to scrape by. With two working people, you both should be fine.



The fact you currently don't pay rent will get you confused. Rent is by far the most expensive part of monthly payments you will encounter.

Edited September 6, 2015 by Ash.1101

[David & Diana R 1,005]

Hi there, my wife and I are planning to move to Texas soon, it seems right now that it's our best option.

Our salaries in Mexico will never give us the opportunity to buy a house and since she's an american citizen we're about to leave, arrange my immigration status so I can work legally and start a new life there.

Now, we hadn't thought that while salaries are perhaps much better in the U.S., on the other side: monthly expenses might be higher too. So I wanted to ask everybody, how much in average do you pay monthly for everything?

Let's say:

• Water
• Gas
• Electricity
• Internet
• Rent (apartment for 2 in average)
• Other bills that I'm not considering

I'd be extremely thankful for any help you could provide me about this matter so I can get a sense of the expenses we might have once we live there.

Thanks in advance.

With all due respect this is the craziest question I have ever seen on VJ. It's all relative...my wife made 50 pesos per 12 hour work day in the Philippines. That's about $1.20 American. Of course in American $1.20 doesn't buy you a cheeseburger or taco! In America she brings home, after taxes, about 4,000 pesos per day. That's about $100.00 per day. Rent for her apartment in the Philippines was $125.00 US. Rent in the US for the same size apartment is $1,000.00 per month. Get it? It's all relative... Doesn't your US sponsor know what it cost's to

live in the US??

[Pythos1 24]

The idea of looking at online rental sites is good. Also, consider the possibility of working in the city and living in a small town 30 or 50 miles away. Rent often drops a lot doing that. For example, I know you said Texas, but I know a little more about Ohio, where I live (a town of 15,000), I can rent a 3 bedroom home for 500 dollars and drive 60 miles to work in a metropolitan area of over 1 million. Or I can live in that metropolitan area and pay 1200 dollars for the same home in a more crowded setting.

[TBoneTX 43,038]

get shot on your way home? Creepy.

"Your rent buys your neighbors."

[Ausa 66]

"Your rent buys your neighbors."

Agreed! Cheap rent can mean high danger or noisy neighbors. You said that you want to move to the US and buy a house? Slow down and just look to built income, credit, and savings for at least 3-5 years here before thinking about getting a mortgage.

Estimate $600-700 per month for rent for a safe place (rent should be 30% of income), $350 per month for car payment and insurance, and $100 for 2 mobile phones. Utilities should cost you $200 per month, and gas depends on how far you need to drive y o work 5 days a week. Understanding that this is ONE car for 2 people. Be creative, sacrifice for the first 5 years, and work very very hard, and just maybe you can buy a starter home and a used 2nd car. Good luck, work hard, learn daily, and stay positive!

You get paid more here, but pay more to live here.

Edited September 7, 2015 by Ausa

[craftercool 7]

With all due respect this is the craziest question I have ever seen on VJ. It's all relative...my wife made 50 pesos per 12 hour work day in the Philippines. That's about $1.20 American. Of course in American $1.20 doesn't buy you a cheeseburger or taco! In America she brings home, after taxes, about 4,000 pesos per day. That's about $100.00 per day. Rent for her apartment in the Philippines was $125.00 US. Rent in the US for the same size apartment is $1,000.00 per month. Get it? It's all relative... Doesn't your US sponsor know what it cost's to

live in the US??

No since my sponsor is my wife, a U.S. citizen who has lived the past 10 years in Mexico and she have never worked in the U.S. nor paid taxes or cared for this topics, she was a teenager when she left, that's why we're trying to figure out how our life is going to be when we move there.

[craftercool 7]

Agreed! Cheap rent can mean high danger or noisy neighbors. You said that you want to move to the US and buy a house? Slow down and just look to built income, credit, and savings for at least 3-5 years here before thinking about getting a mortgage.

Estimate $600-700 per month for rent for a safe place (rent should be 30% of income), $350 per month for car payment and insurance, and $100 for 2 mobile phones. Utilities should cost you $200 per month, and gas depends on how far you need to drive y o work 5 days a week. Understanding that this is ONE car for 2 people. Be creative, sacrifice for the first 5 years, and work very very hard, and just maybe you can buy a starter home and a used 2nd car. Good luck, work hard, learn daily, and stay positive!

You get paid more here, but pay more to live here.

Excellent answer Ausa, and all the others who wishes me the best of lucks, I'll work as hard as my body allows me, my wife deserves it, and if one day we decide to bring a new life to this world I want to have at least a house to offer to him/her.

This will be a complete turnaround in my life and I'm scared, but I also have all the desire to do my best.

[Pythos1 24]

I fully understand the scared part, having basically lost everything and moved 1500 miles away from everything and everyone I knew a few years ago. And my fiancee has gone through bouts of nearly paralyzing fear as we contemplate this, and as she was going through the passport phase. I've heard it before in an audio book "it's not brave if there's no fear". If you aren't afraid of something, you cannot have courage. So your fear allows you to have courage and faith.

Regarding costs, the rent for a safe place could be over 1100 dollars, depending on where you're moving, or it could be under 500 dollars. Again, depending on where you're moving. The safe places under 500 dollars are also the places that do not have high paying careers, so it evens out, sort of. That's also why I suggested to look at a small town an hour away from the big city, so you can live in the small town and work in the big city.

[Ash.1101 1,755]

Agree'd with the scaling of costs.


On the concept of cheap rent gets cheap neighbors, 600$ is def considered cheap here for a 2 bedroom. If you're wanting safe, you're looking at a minimum of 800$ and you'll be lucky if you find that, the average of safe but lower cost is 800$+ for a two bedroom.

But remember, there's crime everywhere. I'm paying almost 800$ for my apartment (2bedroom) here in the North Central San Antonio, Tx, (Started paying at 675$) and I've -personally- never had any issues with the neighbors, I've been here for over three years, but I know that this place has car break ins, home invasions, and a few months ago a murder. They're trying to clean this place up, so they're raising the rent, but there's a lot of researching involved, a lot of places can go up in rent and still be awful, simply because they're trying to get rid of the "bad eggs" that can't afford the higher rent.
I have a friend who was paying 600$ for a two bedroom towards the central southside of San Antonio, and she had a guy making meth living directly under her and they had to all be evacuated, and relocated.

I'm moving to a place about 50-100$ more that's significantly better in all aspects.

If you missed it, I broke down my entire monthly payments for rent, utilities, electricity, and insurance in a post above. I live in San Antonio, Tx and it's currently one of the top growing cities in the US.

Edited September 7, 2015 by Ash.1101

[mlh 93]

We live in Texas just north of Dallas.

1 or 2 bed apartments range from $700-$1100/month. If you don't have any credit history in the US, depending on the management company, you may have to pay 2-3 times the monthly rent as a deposit just to get into the apartment.

Electricity around $60 in the spring and fall when you don't have the heat or A/C on, and anywhere from $100-$150 during winter and summer

Water, sewer and trash are usually included in the apartment rent.

Car insurance around $75-$100/month, depends on what type, how old, and how many cars you have.

Cable and internet = $185/month

Cell phone = $100/month for 2 phones

One thing I noticed is that you said your wife hasn't lived in the US or filed taxes for 10 years. Before you can complete your case, she will have to have filed and caught up her tax filings because even if a US citizen doesn't live in the states, they still are required to file taxes every year. Just something to be prepared for if your lawyer hasn't already brought this up...

[craftercool 7]

Holly!!! There's a lot of things that she and I are not considering

[usmsbow 795]

One thing I noticed is that you said your wife hasn't lived in the US or filed taxes for 10 years. Before you can complete your case, she will have to have filed and caught up her tax filings because even if a US citizen doesn't live in the states, they still are required to file taxes every year. Just something to be prepared for if your lawyer hasn't already brought this up...

Holly!!! There's a lot of things that she and I are not considering

Don't worry. If your wife's income really has been $8400/year, there is no need to file a tax return. The income minimum is around $20K for a married couple. If your income is below that, no tax return needs to be filed.

And just in case your income is $20K+/year but below around $90k (I don't remember the exact number), your wife doesn't owe taxes but she should still file.

Edited September 8, 2015 by usmsbow

[Ash.1101 1,755]

Are ya'll using a cosponsor for your I-864?

If not, then chances are your wife makes enough to need to file for sure.

For married, if at any point in those 10 years she made more than 20,300$ she'll have to file.

If she's self-employed the minimum she has to make is 400$.