Sophia Harrison, I've lived in a 10+ countries and currently live abroad.
Updated Feb 27, 2018
I’ve spent A LOT of time in Europe and have been to more countries than most of my European friends. That being said, the more I see and learn about Europe, the better the US looks. If you’re highly educated/skilled, a minority or lived an upper middle class or better lifestyle in the USA , your standard of living is almost guaranteed to be lower. Housing is older, even in the wealthiest of areas, heating and water are more expensive (many Europeans barely use theirs, even in winter, because of this), you will have significantly less housing space, you will have far less disposable income, your opportunities for advancement, financially or professionally will be few (especially if you’re a minority or female), and many of the niceties that you take for granted simply don’t exist here (e.g. central air/heat, one-store shopping, cheap electronics, good customer service, the option to own a home/car etc.). Also, the weather is pretty poor most of the year and “summer” is a few weeks of temperatures in the 70s, if you’re lucky, unless you go to Southern Europe.
Most Europeans do not live what many Americans would consider a middle class lifestyle because of the things I mentioned. However, that doesn’t mean that they aren’t middle class by European standards.
Yes, the quality of whole foods is infinitely better, crime is lower overall, people are kinder and more trusting (at least to your face because racism is still widely tolerated on the Continent). Yes, you will have the safety net of healthcare (which isn’t free but comes out of your income tax), social services, and maybe even a pension. Yes, you will work less hours (for less pay…). Yes, life will probably be simpler as ambition for money, status, and professional accomplishment are either looked down upon or so rarely achieved as to be considered pointless if one has a roof over their head, food and family.
Janka
Answered Nov 20, 2016
As a 33 year old woman living in central Europe I am aware of the fact that we always looked up to american lifestyle and we wanted to have all the material things we have seen on TV. That was in the 90’s when our era of communism ended.
Now we pride ourselves that we have less debt that americans do. we dont use credit cards that much. I personally have one but use it only on holidays. We still use cash a lot. (Not in Germany and Holland), but it is nothing uncommon when you are paying for lets say…your new fridge cash. There are employers that also pay they employees cash. We have 25 days of paid holiday, 10 days of paid sick leave that employer pays you. After 10 days pays national social insurance for your wage loss. Maternity leave is 3 YEARS!!! You get 80% of your income for first 3/4 of the year paid by state. Then you get like 200 Eur untill your kid reaches 3rd year. In western countries like Germany it is much more (this is why immigrants want to go to Western and Nordic countries).
The wages are very small…when you work in a factory lets say assembling cables : 500 EUR. when you work on a CNC machine: 1200 Eur. Cashier: 500 Eur. Office work: 800 Eur. Policeman (criminal department with Police university where you study 5 years): 1600Eur. Manager: 2000 eur. But!!!! There is difference when we talk wages…there is cost of your work, brutto wage and netto wage. Example: Employer has to have a package of f.e. 1200 eur and what you see as netto wage is 650 eur. Why? Employer pays for you to the state for various insurances, you pay also your share for these insurances plus tax. That means you pay almost 45% of your wage to the state. (Health Insurance, social insurance, unemployment insurance, retirement insurance etc). You can get money from this funds when you are unemployed, but the conditions are at least 2 years insured and you get some money for 6 months.
Retirement is difficult. You get like 400 eur and imagine that you have to pay rent, medicaments, bills, food etc. If people wouldnt have children that help out, it wouldnt be easy. Our old people spend loooooads of time sitting in hospital and seeing doctors. It is mostly free. Sometimes you pay 5 eur fee. You pay for medicaments partially. We prefer prevention. It is cheaper to go for a yearly check up than to cure you from cancer. This is very good.
Rent: 3 room apartment in a block of flats starts from 300 eur. If you are owner, you pay 120 eur. New apartments: 500 eur. House: 800 eur. Talking only about smaller cities and not capital. Also dont forget that what we consider big house is for americans airing cupboard. Flats are mainly 80 square meters. Nowadays people build houses that are 150 square meters big. If you have 300 sq.meters prople look at you that you must be crazy. Who would be cleaning that big house every week, heating it etc…when there are only 2 or 3 people living in there. We prefer smaller.
We spend at work 8 hours. We need fast decisions. If you dont asnwer business emails within working hours, customers get angry and start calling you. We want things fast and it would be better, if they were immediately here \U0001f604
Okay…to much info. Hope it was helpful at least.
Daniel Ehringer, I have travelled to most major European cities.
That depends on a lot of factors. Europe is a varied place. In Switzerland, we have a VERY high standard of living but things are incredibly expensive, the bureaucracy is staggering and it is a very small country which basically closes down on Sunday and in the evenings after 18:30. In Germany they have a pretty good standard of living with a very effective social safety net. The same problem with bureaucracy and the place closes down on Sundays and holidays. Most European countries have GREAT public transportation inside their city zones, but traveling between cities can be difficult and expensive, but not impossible. Spain, Italy and Greece are a bit of a different story. These countries are a bit poorer and are having difficulties maintaining the social safety net. They are still functioning and things are still moving, but it is getting harder. There are varying degrees of crime across Europe. Most people are mostly family focused and spend as much time with family as possible. Insurance is mandatory and costs a lot of money. The concept of “free health care” is a myth. It costs and it costs a lot. Higher education is readily available. This leads to a situation where most people have at least a two year degree, so it has very little competitive impact on your employability.
The U.S. is always open. 24/7. It is always possible to go somewhere and do something in most places. Most people have to have a car unless you live in a city and health care is difficult to come by for people in a part time work situation. We tend to be focused on ourselves and our goals. We are pretty competitive and that can sometimes interfere with our family time. Convenience is the main advantage in the U.S. We can have access to pretty much everything all the time. Crime is different in different areas of the country and most Americans take responsibility for their own protection rather than count on the police to keep them safe.
Overall, I would say they are comparable. The big difference is that in the U.S. we are more focused on ourselves and our pursuits at work, we are more open, talkative and friendly. Where Europeans tend to be more focused on their family and resist acquiring new friendships.
Douglas Lloyd Self
It depends on what’s important to you.
Europe, having once, if not directly under Otto Bismarck’s German Empire, was well influenced by it insofar as it’s socialistic ideals (not out of any sense of ‘compassion’, but rather, management of the people themselves as a resource to serve the state’s interests, especially in raising an army). So the social ‘safety net’ exists to a greater extent than what is common in the USA. However, Europe also suffers from economic stagnation and perpetually high unemployment, which in utter irony has been relieved, especially in the UK, by ‘de-nationalization’ of many state monopolies. The greatest period of economic expansion, as if the post-WWII wasn’t miraculous enough, occurred after the end of the so-called “Cold” War, when nations on both sides of the erstwhile “Iron Curtain” could stand down and not spend so much on the military, but, most important, privatization of either state-owned enterprises in former Eastern Bloc countries or state-sponsored monopolies in the NATO countries were sold off and/or broken up. Europe also enjoyed, until recently, much lower crime rates, being mostly within their borders monoracial (obviously white) and monolingual (save for nations where two or more languages were long-term observed, like Belgium and Switzerland, for example). Once Europe became flooded with more immigrants, primarily from the Middle East that are mostly Muslim, but also a great deal of Africans, lo and behold, began many problems with racial strife, violent crimes, gangs, and rampant multi-generational welfare dependency, such as the USA enjoyed ever since LBJ’s misbegotten “Great Society”.
America, by European standards, is wide open and less certain about a great many things. For example, they’ve had government-sponsored health care, which, in reality, became two-tiered…a mediocre government ‘product’ for the masses, and for the wealthy that could either go to private physicians where allowed or travel abroad, a higher level of care. America dispenses with that distinction; some of the even the relatively humble working class have excellent health plans through their employment. As for the rest, they get by on a hodgepodge of various social programs like “Medi-Cal” (in CA), or Medicaid, etc, so, in fact, the very poor often have superior health care than the ‘working’ poor. None of these contradictions and/or conflicting systems have been resolved by the eight-year descent into foolishness colloquially known as “Obama Care”, which, as the current Liar-in-Chief utterly lied to the American public, took away many choices in health care and/or one’s current plan or choices of doctors. Fortunately, whatever nitwittery the one with the ill-fitting toupee will come up with to replace ObamaCare, it will be better since likely it will be MARKET based. American society is far more dynamic, with far greater social and economic mobility. Even our ‘poor’ enjoy a standard of living which is envied by the ‘working classes’ of most European countries. Most of the ‘poor’ perennially on welfare live in homes far newer and more comfortable than in Europe, drive a car, have a myriad of electronic items to entertain, and cable TV and Internet. The average American middle class family enjoys a house on a plot of land that would be an expensive villa in most of Europe, well above the means of most to afford. Often in an American household there are more automobiles than drivers. Starting up a business, though certainly there is no guarantee of success, is far simpler and far less regulated in even the states most under the yoke of Democrat Party idiocy than in ANY European nation, even Switzerland. But besides freedom, there is one GREATER distinction: in spite of the best efforts of socialistic morons to kill it, the American ideal is still of rugged individualism and self-reliance, which is why EUROPEAN immigrants, especially from the Slavic lands, tend to take to free enterprise AND strict observance of their respective religious faiths far above the ‘native’ Americans, and I ain’t referring to Iroquois, Cherokee, and Navajo, either.
Jim Lackey, studied Bachelor of Science in Psychology & Sociology Minor
People keep mentioning the U.S. not being safe. As Sophia Harrison pointed out, there are 50 states in the U.S. and 50 countries in Europe. There places in the U.S. that aren’t safe just as there are places in Europe that aren’t safe. Most of the U.S. is as safe as Europe. Many people cherry pick their data. Don’t believe what CNN Europe tells you.
Jim Seidman, Natural born American
There are a number of differences. I'll highlight a few:
Housing. European cities often have much higher populations densities, increasing property costs. Europe generally also has much better public transportation, further encouraging people to live within the metropolitan area.
Taxation. The United States has no equivalent to the Value Added Tax, instead collecting most of its revenue through income and payroll taxes. VAT drives up the prices for things in Europe.
Business efficiency. Despite the improvement in trade created by the EU and Eurozone, some European countries still have regulations that prevent businesses from becoming more efficient. Examples range from subsidies for small inefficient farmers, to regulations preventing hypermarkets or discouraging foreign chains.
Sofie has found a new little
