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.
Tax is 7% but with social security and healthcare government tax an extra 8%. This makes a total of 15% tax on the first $22 000, after that the tax is 28%

Petrol

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

Unleaded petrol = $1.65 US a gallon. By the time we were leaving the price has risen to $2.20 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.

Insurance - car

$200 per month = $2400 per year: very outrageous

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.
Health Insurance is $300 a month each which is an extraordinary amount
Ear, nose specialist - $345. We had to pay $178 of this even though we had full insurance cover.
One visit to Pathology re menopause info $190 but insurance only paid $38 : we paid the difference $153
The crown for my tooth was $700 : we had to pay half which was $350
Foot examination and xray which was a waste of time : $279. Insurance paid $160. We still had to pay $120
It seems incredible to pay $300 a month each for insurance and still have to pay half the cost of treatment yourself.

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
Milk $2.39 for medium
Oatmeal $2.35 medium drum container
Dove soap 2 only for $3
Snikers bag medium $3.19
Small chicken $3.14
2 peaches $1
5 bananas 71c
2 apples $1.26
1 Cantalopue $2.57

Heating

Heating on the farm was $550 US a month which was astonishingly high considering we paid $650 for the whole of winter. HL said his heating costs decreased by half when they put on storm windows.

Unions

When you are fired in Iowa you don't quality for welfare payments. When you fired it is a black mark against your name in getting another job. It might have been unfair but you have not recourse if you don't belong to a union. Why can't the employers let you resign first.
If you dismiss an employee, the employer is liable for welfare payments in the first year afterwards.

U-Haul truck

$139 to hire, $52 insurance and & $32 in petrol for 603 kilometres
The small car was $20 for petrol