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Originally Posted by DemolitionRed
Maru thank you for such detailed descriptions. I think my friend must live on the nicer side of town in Baltimore. She teaches acting at a university and her husband is a professor of music at the same uni.
When you convert dollars to pounds, the house prices, even in expensive areas of the U.S seem very cheap but then I live in London where a mouse hole can easily set you back a £million. What is a regular monthly salary for unskilled workers? In the UK an unskilled basic rate in the UK is around £1,300 a month (abt $1700) before tax and NI
If you want a short answer you should ask, “what’s right about the North Sea” Its cold, unpredictable and often hazardous and the swell tends to get real big!
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The Marina is the one of the better parts of Baltimore. It's part of the main town but my husband worked some streets away from there. University of Maryland and John Hopkins are located there as well, so it's not all bad a bad area. The arts and theater district there are a major source of the city's culture. I will say that about MD, they focus a lot on education and the arts. I like that there are so many older buildings there and unique architecture than other places.
The federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. I want to say when I worked my first job at that rate full time (40 hrs) many years back my total between the checks was about $700/mo after taxes (w/o health ins). Some states are higher and there's a push here to raise federal. I think the goal is ultimately to raise it to $12-15. At least it would be much closer to a living wage. Maryland's minimum wage is $8.75 per hour now.
Japan's cost of living is similar to UK because of island living. Certain foods, basic things are more expensive since it has to be imported in. My friend's apt in Osaka used to be not much bigger than a walk-in closet...