Cost of Living

" An income of US$ 50 K in Texas State is equivalent to income of US$ 75K in New York".

In this article we have tried to paint an overview of cost of housing, cost of automobile and cost of basic day to day stuff in the United States. This would give a person basic idea of what sort of cost to expect when he is coming to the US.

Apartment Prices

Cities in the United States can be divided into three categories : Less Expensive, Moderate, More Expensive. Every city has a downtown area, which is basically the center of the city, where costs are lower. But downtown are normally known for higher crime rates and it may not always be wise to stay there, specially people who come here with families.

A typical apartment rent includes one bedroom, one bathroom, balcony or patio, dining cum living room, refrigerator, and kitchen mostly with dishwasher. In some cases it may also come with washer/dryer and microwaves. Floor plans are in the vicinity of 750-900sq. ft. For single people coming to the US, you can usually get studio apartments which qualify as smaller, more compact approximate 400-500sq. ft. apartments, which are about $100 less than one bedroom apartments. Not all apartment complexes have studio apartments.

For people who prefer two bedrooms can add $150 to this median cost of one-bedroom apartments. Most apartment complexes have a playground and a swimming pool. Expensive apartments come with tennis courts and health club facilities.

House rents are comparable to apartment rents. The apartment management is responsible for all repairs except damages to things belonging to apartments like heating unit, cooling unit, washer, dryer, etc. Apartments usually charge a certain amount of money as security deposit (can range from $250-$500). All apartments insist on some lease period, commonly 1-year. Some apartments also lease for shorter periods than this, but the prices may be high.

At the end of the lease, apartment management checks for damages. If there are none, your security deposit is given back to you. All apartments usually have a lease breakage clause. In the event that you had signed up for a 1 year lease and you have to go at the end of 6 months, you have to pay an extra month or extra two months' rent as penalty. Some apartments do not have this lease breakage, they hold you responsible for the rent till the end of the lease period, unless they find someone to take over the rest of your lease. It is wise to check with the apartment prior to moving in, or even better, prior to signing the lease.

Buying a Car

You can either choose to go for a second hand or you can select to go for a brand new car. People with specific plans to stay long enough usually go for new cars. Economy new cars like Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla start around $16000. You could select payment options, which might be $300 per month or less payable over a period of 5 years at a certain interest percentage.

If you are a recent entry to the US, your interest rates are going to be high as you would not have a good credit rating. But after the first year or so, you could shop for a lesser insurance and refinance your loan.Car insurance is the most vital thing, which would be about $1000-$1200 per year depending upon the city you are in for the first year since you do not have a good driving record. Insurance cost tends to decrease as you establish a good driving record.

Because of high loan rates and insurance rates, many people choose to buy used cars for the first couple of years. A reasonably good condition used car can be bought within $1500-$2500 and insurance costs would be within $500-$600 per year. Used cars in this category of price range would be good for driving in and around the city for day to day basic and office work. If you are planning a weekend drive to a friend's house 200 miles away, you might be better off renting a car. It is relatively inexpensive and saves your own car from wear and tear. Rental rates for an economy car is around $25-$30 per day, with insurance ranging from $10-$15 per day. Insurance covers you from having to pay for repairs in case there is any unfortunate accident.

If you have come to US for a short stay you might be better off simply renting a car per month, though the costs are sometimes high. A typical leasing option for a new Honda Civic would be $200-$250 a month for 13 or 24 or 36 months. Average fuel price ranges from $0.94 to $1.15 per gallon on an average and on the highway your car goes about 20-35 miles with a gallon.

Cost of Car maintenance

Whether you have a used car or a new car, you would be punch with car maintenance of some sort. With any car, the most scheduled form of maintenance is oil change after every 3 months or 3000 miles. With a used car, you might be blow with some parts maintenance like clutch, brakes, tires, exhaust, with new cars it would be scheduled maintenance like 30,000 mile maintenance or 60,000 mile maintenance. Remember, for any car that you own, you need to pay a registration fee to the Department of Motor Vehicles and a property tax to the state.

Phone Cost

For basic monthly service, you pay around $17 on an average, with the option of unlimited local calls. Your basic carrier would charge you a different amount for within the state long distance calls, outside state long distance calls, international calls. It is not necessary to take your basic carrier like Ameritech or Bell Atlantic as your long distance carrier. Outside state long distance costs are $0.10 per minute on an average and international calls to India are around $0.70 - $0.85 per minute on an average.

Food and Groceries

Monthly grocery on an average would be $150 for a single person, $250-$300 for a family. Depends on whether you are a food lover and want to try out different food in the market or you want to limit yourself to the basic qualities.For single people who opt to stay in a group, the costs would be lower as you would divide expenses between yourselves. Eating out is expensive, if you are planning to do so everyday. Average Indian or Chinese or American buffet ranges from $5.95 on weekdays to $7.95 to $10.00 on weekends. The buffets are essentially "all you can eat" places with lots of different food choices. A large pizza, good enough for two people with very healthy appetite is around $10-$12.For frequent eat outs, there are always burger joints like McDonalds, Burger King where a burger meal range from $3-$5.

Credit Cards

Credit cards is a necessity of life in USA. Whether you are renting a car or doing groceries, credit cards are safer and easier to handle. Especially rental companies insist on a credit card. Usually the bank where you open your bank account would give you a debit card. Debit cards differ from credit cards in the sense that money is immediately withdrawn from account, as opposed to credit cards where you get 25 additional days to pay your bills. Try getting a debit card from your bank to start with. But using debit cards do not build credit history. There is a category of credit cards called secure cards, which are easier to get. You basically take it against a deposit and have to pay a monthly value for it. For pure credit cards as in MasterCard, Visa or American Express, you are expected to have a credit history the very first time you apply for the same. Since this would not be true, you might want your company to provide a company credit card. Once you have used this for some time, you would start receiving credit card applications over mail and it is pretty easy to get approved for one of these cards.

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