Costs  

Is the cost of living higher in the U.S?

Wages and Tax

• There are no State Income taxes in South Dakota.  Almost all the other states have state taxes
• South Dakota is one of the poorest States and has the lowest wages, however its educational standards and testing are consistently in the top four States of the U.S.  Iowa and Minnesota are probably the best States for educational standards.
• The taxes in SD are raised by taxing landowners.
• The basic wages for teachers are around $22000 US. ($30000 Australia).  But poorer schools cannot afford these wages and some earn as little as $16000 a year.  Some teachers who have been teaching over 10 years are still paid $22000 because the school cannot afford to pay more.
• Often new teaching graduates seek employment in other states, which pay much higher wages.

Petrol

Gasol is also used which is 20% alcohol corn and 80% gasoline

Unleaded petrol = $1.65 US a gallon

2.5 litres = 1 gallon

0.66 US cents (0.93 cents Australia = 1 litre

1 litre = $1.05  in Australia

So – a little cheaper in the U.S.

Medical

• One course of Penicillin tablets: $98 US ($138 Australian) (for 20 tablets):‘Outrageous price’

• We spoke to a lady who was fully insured.  She had a baby and was $5000 US out of pocket.  She is still spitting chips.

• Medical insurance in America is very expensive if your employer does not subsidize you and the increases have been very steep in the last 2 years especially.

• Ear, nose specialist - $345.  We had to pay $178 of this even though we had full insurance cover.

Cattle prices

The best for many years for farmers due to the closing of the borders with Canada because of ‘mad cow disease’ there.  This slumped later when a case of mad cow was discovered coming in from Canada.

Computers

You can get laptops (Toshiba Pentium 4, XP pro, 256 Ram, 40 gig hard drive, DVD/CD burner, wireless etc for $1100 US ($1530 Australia) which is a good deal.    In Australia this model sells for $2530. Overall, electronic equipment in the US seems to be cheaper.

Telephone

Very expensive in the US – extremely cheap in Australia where you can ring the States for half an hour for just a couple of dollars.  Over here it is about 50 cents (US) a minute.

Housing

• Our nearest town is Highmore.  Good two storey, 3 bedroom homes with a basement and an attached garage sell for about $45000 US ($62,000 Australian) which is very reasonable but these homes could be found in rural Australia too.
• The same house in a small town near a major city costs double this amount.  Many people like to have the benefits of living in a small town then commute daily to work in the city.

New pair of spectacles

• $520 US ($715 Australian).  That’s one pair – can you believe it?  Thankfully it does include the eye examination.  The rebate from health insurance is $200 US.  At that price you’d not want to loose them or sit on them.

Food

• 100 tea bag packet $4.45(US) in Highmore Supermarket

Heating

• Heating on the farm was $550 US a month which was astonishingly high cosidering we paid $350 for the whole of winter.  HL said his heating costs decreased by half when they put on storm windows