Living costs in Mineapolis (moving from India) (Minneapolis, Duluth: health insurance, house)

[shadip]

Hi all
My husband had got a job offer in MN. The expected salary is $100K/year.
We are a family of three: me, my hubby and our 20 months old. I am not able to decide about our move from India. I am working here in India. My background is science( physics masters). I would like to ask a few questions to decide on our move:
1. Will we be able to maintain a decent lifestyle with $100K/year?
2. Can I find a job there? if yes what kind of?

I will appreciate your help.

Thanks
Shadip

[uptown_urbanist]

Originally Posted by shadip

Hi all
My husband had got a job offer in MN. The expected salary is $100K/year.
We are a family of three: me, my hubby and our 20 months old. I am not able to decide about our move from India. I am working here in India. My background is science( physics masters). I would like to ask a few questions to decide on our move:
1. Will we be able to maintain a decent lifestyle with $100K/year?
2. Can I find a job there? if yes what kind of?

I will appreciate your help.

Thanks
Shadip

Yes, $100k for a family of three will get allow you a decent lifestyle. Where in the state is his potential job? Just how far that salary will go will depend on specific location. It won't go as far in the Twin Cities as, say, Duluth, but it's still enough that you can live a nice (although not luxury) life. Make sure to check out the total benefit package, as things like health insurance can be worth many thousands of dollars on top of the actual salary.

As for your job prospects, I would assume that this will also depend on location in the state. I would expect that your job prospects would be quite good in the Twin Cities.

[shadip]

Thank you very much for the reply uptown_urbanist.
I ll check out the total pay package before deciding. But your reply gave me some positivity about the move. Thank you so much.

[GBCommenter]

I would be likely to agree generally with UU on the ability to be in a decent lifestyle at $100K, though I suppose technically it would depend on what you consider a "decent lifestyle". Unless you have some belief that you need a 5 bedroom house on the lake, with two or three new cars in the garage, and eating out every meal as a "decent lifestyle" you'll be just fine. Even if you assume 25% off the $100K lifestyle for taxes and other deductions, that leaves you around $6200 per month for living. If you take a third of that for housing, a $2000 monthly payment should get you at least a 2 to 3 bedroom home in a safe suburb (or safe city neighborhood), and leave you enough to cover other basic life needs and still have money for discretionary spending.

Put another way, there are plenty in our fine city that live on less and would find themselves comfortable.

[tvdxer]

Originally Posted by shadip

Hi all
My husband had got a job offer in MN. The expected salary is $100K/year.
We are a family of three: me, my hubby and our 20 months old. I am not able to decide about our move from India. I am working here in India. My background is science( physics masters). I would like to ask a few questions to decide on our move:
1. Will we be able to maintain a decent lifestyle with $100K/year?
2. Can I find a job there? if yes what kind of?

I will appreciate your help.

Thanks
Shadip

1. Yes, definitely. $100k / year is more than most Twin Cities households earn.
2. Depends on what kind of visa you have.

You probably won't be able to afford a live-in maid or maids with that kind of money as you would with much less in India. You'll have to cook your own food and do your own chores, etc.

[shadip]

Originally Posted by uptown_urbanist

Yes, $100k for a family of three will get allow you a decent lifestyle. Where in the state is his potential job? Just how far that salary will go will depend on specific location. It won't go as far in the Twin Cities as, say, Duluth, but it's still enough that you can live a nice (although not luxury) life. Make sure to check out the total benefit package, as things like health insurance can be worth many thousands of dollars on top of the actual salary.

As for your job prospects, I would assume that this will also depend on location in the state. I would expect that your job prospects would be quite good in the Twin Cities.

Thanks for that UU! My location would be twin cities. What kind of job and salary can I expect with my qualification (Physics Masters from a good Indian Univ.)? Thanks in advance!

[shadip]

Thank you for replying GBCommenter and tvdxer..

[west336]

Wow -- you're coming to the U.S. with a GREAT head start, good for you!! I think you'll do just fine, and Minneapolis is among the best in the country in terms of unemployment and job openings. The median income in the Twin Cities for a family of 3 is around $70K, so you're WELL ahead of the curve and can afford quite a bit of living and find some really amazing locales. I'd personally suggest the typical Lake Calhoun or Lake Harriet areas, specifically on the Southwest side of the lake, where you'll be in much better school districts (whether your child goes to school there or not, it's good for resale value if you buy a home). Also, other inner-ring (meaning closer to downtown) suburbs to look into could include Edina, Hopkins or St. Louis Park, all of which have excellent schools and at least SOME diversity (you and your family wouldn't be the only Asian Indians in any of these places). I'm sure others could suggest outer-ring suburbs that cater well to families like yours, but I'm less familiar with those.

Good luck, and welcome!

[west336]

Originally Posted by shadip

Thanks for that UU! My location would be twin cities. What kind of job and salary can I expect with my qualification (Physics Masters from a good Indian Univ.)? Thanks in advance!

Try:

www.salary.com

Try their Salary Wizard by typing in a job description and perhaps the seniority, if applicable. Assuming you have at least 5 years of on-the-job experience (big assumption), and you are looking into an Engineering type of position (another big assumption), I'm pretty sure you can pretty easily START well over $80K (like Mechanical Engineer), assuming there are openings and demand for people with your skills (final assumption). I'm fairly certain though that people with your background (high sciences and mathematics) are in very high demand right now in this economy because there have not been enough graduates with that specific kind of education and there continues to be a swelling supply of those jobs.

Here's the Mechanical Engineer with 5+ years of experience salary range:
http://www1.salary.com/Mechanical-En...II-Salary.html

[shadip]

West336,
Thank you so much for such a warm reply.
My main concern is finding a good job for me there. I have 8 yrs + experience in technology mainly in computers. and I can teach Mathematics and physics as well though I have very little experience (< 1 year).

So what will be the probable and better area for me? Teaching or Engineering?

will appreciate your reply on above.

Thank you so much.