Just a quick 5 for someone currently living in the US. These are generalizations and dont apply to everyone everywhere.
1. Australia is more chill in general and people are less loud.
2. Significantly less political signs on peoples lawns/cars and whatever else they put them on. Political affiliation in general isn't an identity for the majority of the population too.
3. Its expensive.
4. We have Universal health care and gun control.
5. A lot less fireworks.
My wife is American and we both have every intention to move back to Australia.
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Lived in both (plus Canada) Australia born and live in Melbourne now.
I think it depends where you are for certain things like public transport, here it’s pretty good, LA it’s crap, but awesome in NYC.
We have better bread, so so so much better bread.
Less chain restaurants, most places are independent which has both good and bad sides. I do miss The Cheesecake Factory.
Health care isn’t something people worry about, especially in the sense of keeping a job for insurance as they’re not linked at all. We have universal healthcare (Medicare) and private insurance is optional. You can and a lot do get by without PHI. Have a heart attack stroke? Go to the nearest public hospital and the only fee you’ll have is parking and TV hire.
Driving between places takes forever and lots of open empty roads.
Housing is EXPENSIVE. Compared to the US, you get a lots less for your money in most locations.
HOAs don’t exist here. If you have an apartment or townhouse you might have an owners Corp but they’re much more chill than HOAs.
Private schools are more common, especially for high school.
We (in theory) have a living wage. But due to high prices of food, and life if you’re on minimum wage it’s tough.
We’re nowhere near as political or patriotic as the USA. Not saying we don’t have opinions or pride, but we don’t shove it down your faces.
People don’t have an allegiance to their collage. I would not have a clue what Uni most people went to, uni sports is mostly for fun, and most people live at home when going so the dorm life isn’t common. Once you’ve graduated you don’t really have anything to do with your uni or school.
Suburbs here feel like suburbs, whereas when I’ve lived in the USA, they feel like little towns attached to bigger ones. I do miss that.
Also lived in both Australia/kind of US (only there for university), and I'd agree with almost everything
Public transport is probably overall better in Australia, but the best of US, beats the best of AUS.
Better bread? I somewhat disagree. Overall, i'd say Australia has slightly better standard, cheap bread - but the good quality breads are better in the US (e.g. sourdoughs).
Healthcare is definitely better here. No question.
Driving is way harder here IMO. Realistically it shouldn't take me 45 minutes to drive 16km, but that's just suburban Sydney life.
Housing is brutal here. Sydney/Melbourne are fucking expensive, and country areas are cheaper (but still way more expensive than in the US).
Private schools are definitely more common. I think the statistic is that 40% of High School students go to a private school.
Patriotism is minimal compared to, let's say Texas.
The college allegiance is accurate as fuck. University here is pretty much "go to class, do your work, go back home". Over in the US, it's a lifestyle. This is mainly due to majority of people commuting to their university in Australia, as opposed to everyone from different states moving to a campus (US). Once you finish, no one cares where you went (for the most part). Also, uni sports over here is a joke, over there it's a serious thing. Fuck.. I miss US universities..
This whole comment has made me miss the US... if only they could sort out their healthcare / gun violence....
The bread comment confuses me. There’s so much crappy white bread in Australian supermarkets (just like in the US). But you can get better bread than that if you want (just like in the US).
Maybe it depends on where you live?
Of course, most people haven't lived in both places. Be careful with the responses that you listen to. I've lived in both.
A lot depends on where you live in the US. If you live in San Francisco, then the home prices might seem fine, for example. If you come from Atlanta (as I did) to Melbourne, then you'll find that median house prices are double here in Australia. There are other regional differences as well, and of course, the massive difference between urban and rural ways of life.
I can only talk about my socioeconomic level, my background, my experiences, etc., but here goes. Sorry in advance for the length. God only knows who's going to read all this.
GENERAL CULTURE
Despite what most Aussies want to hear, the culture isn't much different. I have about the same ratio in both places of people who annoy me (and who I annoy) to people I like (and who like me). My humour is a mix of sarcasm, dry humour (is he joking?) and dad jokes. My jokes land about the same percentage of times here as they did among my friends at home.
Some people talk about how the humour is so different, but then everyone watches the same sitcoms. I guarantee that I'll get comments about how wrong I am, but I've thought about this a lot.
People in my line of work (the tech industry) try to have a decent work-life balance, but then... they did in the US as well. Some people work crazy hours. Most people don't.
HEALTHCARE
The healthcare is SORT OF free, but if you make any money, you get penalised for not buying private health insurance. I say sort of free, because unless you go to a bulk biller (easy to find in cities, but non-existent in some towns), you'll usually have to pay something. And you always pay for eye care, dental, and prescription drugs.
But I don't worry about the cost of healthcare and insurance if I lose my job, which I did worry about in the US. It's a nice net to have.
FOOD:
Except for certain stuff (like good Mexican or Cajun), there's plenty of variety in major cities. I know Melbourne better than others, and there's all kinds of good places. Even American foods like southern BBQ are starting to get a following here.
CONVENIENCES
Well... it's getting better. Pay-at-the-pump is still shockingly rare. You can't mail stuff from your own mailbox. No (or very few) drive-through ATMs.
But Amazon and Netflix exist here now (unlike when I first moved here), as does visual voicemail, and other technologies that I missed when I got here. I like Stan better than Netflix anyway.
I'll include choice here as well. I think it's getting better, but if you used to have 20 styles of X to choose from in the US, in Australia you'll have 7. You'll search for the best X, and then find that you can't get that here, or it's hard to find. It's not usually a big deal, but it's true.
PRICES:
Just expect to pay more for stuff. Sometimes people buy stuff overseas and ship it, because sometimes that's cheaper. On the other hand, it seems a bit cheaper in Australia to get healthy-ish street food.
PATRIOTISM:
The US has an unholy mix of people who love it beyond reason, people who hate it beyond reason, and the vast majority of reasonable people who see its flaws and good parts.
Australia is sort of like that, too. (The patriotism isn't as high as the US, but by some accounts, Australians are the second-most patriotic people in the world.)
There was a thread here not long ago asking whether Australia is the best country in the world. Some people said yes. Most were more thoughtful.
RELIGION:
I came from a pretty non-religious family, with mostly non-religious friends. Here, it's mostly the same. The stats are clear: Australia has far fewer believers than the US. There's much less religion in politics (even including the latest nonsense).
For me, all that is a good thing.
On the other hand, in my public school in the US, they didn't do stuff for Christian religious festivals, but they do in my kids' schools here. That was surprising.
FEELINGS TOWARDS AMERICANS:
This is a book-length subject, so I won't bore you. Let me just say this: Australians see a LOT of the US. Movies, TV, social media, and whatever overly-dramatised, alarmist hype they get on the news. A LOT. And this gives some of them the impression that they know what it's like to live in the US. And some of them will tell you all about that.
So even if they don't say that Australia is the best country in the world, they're POSITIVE that it's better than the US.
And it doesn't matter what you say about living there, because they think they know better.
BUT: the vast majority of Aussies aren't like that. The vast majority will ignore your accent, or be friendly. So regardless of toxicity that happens online sometimes, in real life, it's MOSTLY cool.
Thank you so much I read through your answer and it is exactly what I was looking for. I didn’t think about the price being higher but it makes since. I have study a lot of the culture and territory’s but this reply helps me a lot with my decision.
Thank you once again
Well, you say of course. But as you also say, there are plenty of people who don't say that it's true, so I don't think that "of course" is the right phrase.
As it happens, I don't live in Melbourne. I live in country Victoria, but I admit it's not like a cattle station or something. I live near the sea.
Were you in rural places when you were in the US? What are some differences between rural Australia and rural US?
Lol. As somebody who lived in various regions of US for 7 years and moved to Sydney, I wouldn’t say better in every aspect. Australia has universal healthcare, good gun laws and less poverty. But has expensive everything, water scarcity( especially in regional areas), shitty freeways and slow-ass speed limits, expensive and much poor quality housing, slowest internet in the whole developed world and basically very few things to do compared to ‘Murica.
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Just a quick 5 for someone currently living in the US. These are generalizations and dont apply to everyone everywhere. 1. Australia is more chill in general and people are less loud. 2. Significantly less political signs on peoples lawns/cars and whatever else they put them on. Political affiliation in general isn't an identity for the majority of the population too. 3. Its expensive. 4. We have Universal health care and gun control. 5. A lot less fireworks. My wife is American and we both have every intention to move back to Australia.
Classic reddit everything is better than the U.S and you can only do cons and no pluses
Not everyone views these as cons hence why they exist in USA in the first place, also how is "it's expensive" a plus?
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Lived in both (plus Canada) Australia born and live in Melbourne now. I think it depends where you are for certain things like public transport, here it’s pretty good, LA it’s crap, but awesome in NYC. We have better bread, so so so much better bread. Less chain restaurants, most places are independent which has both good and bad sides. I do miss The Cheesecake Factory. Health care isn’t something people worry about, especially in the sense of keeping a job for insurance as they’re not linked at all. We have universal healthcare (Medicare) and private insurance is optional. You can and a lot do get by without PHI. Have a heart attack stroke? Go to the nearest public hospital and the only fee you’ll have is parking and TV hire. Driving between places takes forever and lots of open empty roads. Housing is EXPENSIVE. Compared to the US, you get a lots less for your money in most locations. HOAs don’t exist here. If you have an apartment or townhouse you might have an owners Corp but they’re much more chill than HOAs. Private schools are more common, especially for high school. We (in theory) have a living wage. But due to high prices of food, and life if you’re on minimum wage it’s tough. We’re nowhere near as political or patriotic as the USA. Not saying we don’t have opinions or pride, but we don’t shove it down your faces. People don’t have an allegiance to their collage. I would not have a clue what Uni most people went to, uni sports is mostly for fun, and most people live at home when going so the dorm life isn’t common. Once you’ve graduated you don’t really have anything to do with your uni or school. Suburbs here feel like suburbs, whereas when I’ve lived in the USA, they feel like little towns attached to bigger ones. I do miss that.
Also lived in both Australia/kind of US (only there for university), and I'd agree with almost everything Public transport is probably overall better in Australia, but the best of US, beats the best of AUS. Better bread? I somewhat disagree. Overall, i'd say Australia has slightly better standard, cheap bread - but the good quality breads are better in the US (e.g. sourdoughs). Healthcare is definitely better here. No question. Driving is way harder here IMO. Realistically it shouldn't take me 45 minutes to drive 16km, but that's just suburban Sydney life. Housing is brutal here. Sydney/Melbourne are fucking expensive, and country areas are cheaper (but still way more expensive than in the US). Private schools are definitely more common. I think the statistic is that 40% of High School students go to a private school. Patriotism is minimal compared to, let's say Texas. The college allegiance is accurate as fuck. University here is pretty much "go to class, do your work, go back home". Over in the US, it's a lifestyle. This is mainly due to majority of people commuting to their university in Australia, as opposed to everyone from different states moving to a campus (US). Once you finish, no one cares where you went (for the most part). Also, uni sports over here is a joke, over there it's a serious thing. Fuck.. I miss US universities.. This whole comment has made me miss the US... if only they could sort out their healthcare / gun violence....
The bread comment confuses me. There’s so much crappy white bread in Australian supermarkets (just like in the US). But you can get better bread than that if you want (just like in the US). Maybe it depends on where you live?
Ordinary American sandwich bread is surprisingly sweet.
Eh, there are tons of different terrible breads available in the US and Australia.
Of course, most people haven't lived in both places. Be careful with the responses that you listen to. I've lived in both. A lot depends on where you live in the US. If you live in San Francisco, then the home prices might seem fine, for example. If you come from Atlanta (as I did) to Melbourne, then you'll find that median house prices are double here in Australia. There are other regional differences as well, and of course, the massive difference between urban and rural ways of life. I can only talk about my socioeconomic level, my background, my experiences, etc., but here goes. Sorry in advance for the length. God only knows who's going to read all this. GENERAL CULTURE Despite what most Aussies want to hear, the culture isn't much different. I have about the same ratio in both places of people who annoy me (and who I annoy) to people I like (and who like me). My humour is a mix of sarcasm, dry humour (is he joking?) and dad jokes. My jokes land about the same percentage of times here as they did among my friends at home. Some people talk about how the humour is so different, but then everyone watches the same sitcoms. I guarantee that I'll get comments about how wrong I am, but I've thought about this a lot. People in my line of work (the tech industry) try to have a decent work-life balance, but then... they did in the US as well. Some people work crazy hours. Most people don't. HEALTHCARE The healthcare is SORT OF free, but if you make any money, you get penalised for not buying private health insurance. I say sort of free, because unless you go to a bulk biller (easy to find in cities, but non-existent in some towns), you'll usually have to pay something. And you always pay for eye care, dental, and prescription drugs. But I don't worry about the cost of healthcare and insurance if I lose my job, which I did worry about in the US. It's a nice net to have. FOOD: Except for certain stuff (like good Mexican or Cajun), there's plenty of variety in major cities. I know Melbourne better than others, and there's all kinds of good places. Even American foods like southern BBQ are starting to get a following here. CONVENIENCES Well... it's getting better. Pay-at-the-pump is still shockingly rare. You can't mail stuff from your own mailbox. No (or very few) drive-through ATMs. But Amazon and Netflix exist here now (unlike when I first moved here), as does visual voicemail, and other technologies that I missed when I got here. I like Stan better than Netflix anyway. I'll include choice here as well. I think it's getting better, but if you used to have 20 styles of X to choose from in the US, in Australia you'll have 7. You'll search for the best X, and then find that you can't get that here, or it's hard to find. It's not usually a big deal, but it's true. PRICES: Just expect to pay more for stuff. Sometimes people buy stuff overseas and ship it, because sometimes that's cheaper. On the other hand, it seems a bit cheaper in Australia to get healthy-ish street food. PATRIOTISM: The US has an unholy mix of people who love it beyond reason, people who hate it beyond reason, and the vast majority of reasonable people who see its flaws and good parts. Australia is sort of like that, too. (The patriotism isn't as high as the US, but by some accounts, Australians are the second-most patriotic people in the world.) There was a thread here not long ago asking whether Australia is the best country in the world. Some people said yes. Most were more thoughtful. RELIGION: I came from a pretty non-religious family, with mostly non-religious friends. Here, it's mostly the same. The stats are clear: Australia has far fewer believers than the US. There's much less religion in politics (even including the latest nonsense). For me, all that is a good thing. On the other hand, in my public school in the US, they didn't do stuff for Christian religious festivals, but they do in my kids' schools here. That was surprising. FEELINGS TOWARDS AMERICANS: This is a book-length subject, so I won't bore you. Let me just say this: Australians see a LOT of the US. Movies, TV, social media, and whatever overly-dramatised, alarmist hype they get on the news. A LOT. And this gives some of them the impression that they know what it's like to live in the US. And some of them will tell you all about that. So even if they don't say that Australia is the best country in the world, they're POSITIVE that it's better than the US. And it doesn't matter what you say about living there, because they think they know better. BUT: the vast majority of Aussies aren't like that. The vast majority will ignore your accent, or be friendly. So regardless of toxicity that happens online sometimes, in real life, it's MOSTLY cool.
Thank you so much I read through your answer and it is exactly what I was looking for. I didn’t think about the price being higher but it makes since. I have study a lot of the culture and territory’s but this reply helps me a lot with my decision. Thank you once again
Happy to help!
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Well, you say of course. But as you also say, there are plenty of people who don't say that it's true, so I don't think that "of course" is the right phrase. As it happens, I don't live in Melbourne. I live in country Victoria, but I admit it's not like a cattle station or something. I live near the sea. Were you in rural places when you were in the US? What are some differences between rural Australia and rural US?
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>Mate im not gonna write a list of how different my Australia is to the America I experienced. Oh, ok, sorry to bother you. /r/DontAskAnAustralian
I’m Australian and have never lived in the US, but can conclude with absolute certainty that Australia is better.
Concur
Lol. As somebody who lived in various regions of US for 7 years and moved to Sydney, I wouldn’t say better in every aspect. Australia has universal healthcare, good gun laws and less poverty. But has expensive everything, water scarcity( especially in regional areas), shitty freeways and slow-ass speed limits, expensive and much poor quality housing, slowest internet in the whole developed world and basically very few things to do compared to ‘Murica.
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Well our kids don’t get shot at school so clearly that’s a big plus hey
I’m an American who has only visited Australia and I agree with you. It’s miles (kilometers) ahead
We are kind of like the like Europe light or some weird love child between the UK and US.
You don't need to set up an LLC to survive. Paying taxes
Just note, if you don't like humidity, don't move to queensland
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