Living is NOT stupidly cheaper in Europe and never ever let anyone try to tell you that !!. Itis simply that the USA is criminally expensive and people are ripped off with costs such as ( vey poor quality and poisonous ) food , insurance , college fees , housing costs and the cost of healthcare and medications . I recently required a specialist wound treatment which cost me $35 which shocked me as it's the MOST expensive item I have ever purchased from a Pharmacy . So I looked online and found exactly the same brand , manufactured by the same company was listed at $300 for American consumers. Now I know for sure and certain that this overseas Pharmacy is not a charity or a source of good works - it is a business that needs to make a profit so WHERE does the extra $265 go ???? HINT - Think Lobbyists !!!

Italian here. Sicily is much cheaper than the rest of Italy, the more you go north the higher are life expenses. Especially in big/turistic cities or cities with renowned universities grocery and rent are quite high if related to a normal income (but still cheaper than US).

Money, money, money, money ... the Americans' obsession!!! Spoiler alert: there's more to life than money!

First time visiting the US in 1998! I remember everything was so cheap, much cheaper then France or the UK! Now it’s the opposite!

"Gracias" 😂😂😂😂😂😂 (Italian word for Thank you is "Grazie" - very different pronunciation). Reminds me of a Mr Bean movie where he replies the same word after a girl tells his French is good.

Just a quick note. 18k is comfortable in where she lives because she owns a house. If you add rent, you’d have to make sacrifices

She's in Italy and just said "Gracias". Yup, American alright.

I am a 42 Sicilian, her 80k per year is a crazy high amount of money for our standards. The average salary of an office employee is around 22k, for a manager is around 59k. Consider that my entire house loan is 90k and I consider it a real burden. I suspect is a matter of perspective. Since the war in Ukraine started my average expense per week at the supermarket was around 50 euros, now is around 70, so you are also impacted but the surrounding nations' economy. But I must admit, life here looks way easier and relaxed. I work from 9 to 5:30 and by 5:45 I am at the beach :D P.S. also true, antiques here are overrated because there are too many grandma's wardrobes going from cousin to cousin :D

Today i bought groceries and kept the receipt. 2 bottles juice each 1 liter,1 bottle bitter lemon 1 liter, 1 Liter milk, 200 grams dried dates, 2 big Chia buns, 1 poppyseed roll,1 glass of blueberry jam, 1 kg bananas, 400 grams roasted peanuts, 150 grams real italian Mortadella, 1 loaf of whole grain bread 500 gram. All together at 14.96 € at the next Aldi here in Germany. Greetings.

My niece, an american expat living in italy, has given birth to two twin girls at Rome. It was a difficult situation so she had to stay at rhe Hospital for 1 month before the babies were born. She was in one of rhe best hospitals in Italt and well known in Europe, and her doctors were world known surgeans, gynecologists and pediatricians. She had to go into a cesarean surgery and the babies were ok buy fir precaution and trsts were kept in an incubator for 2 or 3 weeks. My niece was recovered for 12 days after she gave birth. After that, every thing went ok, girls are perfrct and the mother is happy and in awson health. Guess how much she paid for all of that, since she git oregnant, the mujtible visits and tests, hospital, mambukance qnd everything? 0 euros. ZERO!!!!!! Thats Italy. God bless this country and universal healthcare.

1:24 this is why this is the only reaction channel that i watch. This guy also gives a lot of facts, he don't just stay there and say wow. Keep up the good work man 💪

Sicily is among the poorest regions in Italy, I live in the North of Italy and you can almost double those costs. Average income is around 35k, below 20k in Sicily. I would still pick any place in Europe rather than the US for a multitude of reasons, but of course if you're living on an American salary in Italy it'll look like a dream. Try to do that on an Italian income and it'll be just the same as Atlanta. That said, I would still pick our quality of life over bigger salaries though.

100$ for internet or 2.5$ for bottle of water in the US? That literally sounds like a scam.

I wonder how good her Italian is? Gracias.😂😂

I am from Poland, living in Germany. I earn like not even 50 k a year, we live a pretty deacend life. Travelling, eating good, driving a new car witch I payed cash☝️I work as a social worker in Frankfurt am Main. One of the most expensive City in Germany. Love your channel!!! ✌🏼

im serbian 20k $ can live comfortably and travel and medical care is no problem..and i have been to most of Europe and some Asian countries..

1. That desk was "cheap" because it is nor an antique nor "vintage". It is just plain old. 2.Plus, she is not talking about taxes. Depending on how long does she stay in Italy, she will be heavily charged as income will be taxed in Italy, not in the USA. So far, according to what she has explained, she got herself a holiday home in Sicily.

"We want a society, where few have too little and fewer too much" N.F.S.Grundtvig, 1783-1872 - one of Denmark's "founding fathers"

as a student in east germany I recieve 812€ goverment support (406 of that is an interest free loan) +250 child benefit (paid to children and adults under the age of 25, im renting a 2 room 50m² appartment in a 4 family home with garden, shed and cellar I pay 425 in rent, ~300 in utilities transportation and car insurance at the end of a month im usually left with 100-200 to save, im super happy my country allows me to pursue my education without having to stress about massive loans, oh and the semester costs ~350€ not 5 figures...

Ian, did you know that in Sydney, we can drink our tap water because it’s perfectly clean and safe? You can buy bottled water but it’s not necessary.

Also, the stated prices in the EU include VAT. Expect another 8% sales tax in the USA.

It would be interesting to hear the local Sicilians' view of the "American lady with pots of money who doesn't even know the correct Italian word for thank you".

I know lots of people from sicily living here in Switzerland. They came here for the one thing that sicily doesn't have: jobs.

Sicily is a great place to live. Its very affortabel and a very nice island. She makes the right step. congrats to her

Why do Europeans ever want to migrate to the Divided States of America? Europe is not perfect but it's still a better place than the Divided States of America period. Other than than that a great video/reaction keep up the great work👍 And greetings from the Netherlands🇳🇱

She's living in Italy on an American wage. Not many people in Sicily are earning what she's earning which makes the cost of things look more impressive. But......her happy place is their normal.

It really shouldn't cost a arm and a leg to put a roof over our heads, housing prices are just ridiculous now.

There are houses for free (1 Euro) in some Italian villages. All you need to do is to restore it and live in it yourself and not resell.

Two liters of water in the Netherlands costs 0.2 cents. It is called tap water and the quality is better than bottled water. Everywhere. But for the rest, the Netherlands is for European standards quite expensive. Especially housing, although it is not as bad as in the UK for example. And education, health care, groceries and fuel are more expensive here than in Germany. Granted, the average income is a bit higher too. Sicily is not a very good example, as the south of Italy is one of the poorest regions in western Europe. There might be some even cheaper regions in Bulgaria and Romania, but that's it.

Hi Ian Italian here. I would add, regarding the difference in property prices that there’s also a huge difference in the buildings between Italy ( or I should say Europe) and USA : our construction materials and building quality are vastly different and so much better than yours. Ours are so much more solid and durable , using bricks , sturdy windows and doors ( usually!) etc. So you should factor this in the difference of prices

I am a dane and I follow an american family who moved to Denmark a "few" years back. They are called "Travellin Youngs" -They have made alot of videos comparing and explaining the differences in everyday life between Denmark and US....

I am a European who chooses to live in Asia. I live in an extremely safe country (guns strictly regulated) where even women can walk at night without the threat of violence, where the police are there to serve and help people and not tyrants whose ego's are out of control. The food is not ultra-processed and therefore healthy and finally medical services are first class will not bankrupt you if you have a medical condition. I cannot believe that anyone in their right mind would choose to live in the USA unless you are fleeing for your life and it's the only place you can walk to.

You got excited about water. I add more. In most EU countries regulations about tap water are so strict so it is usually same or better quality than cheap bottled water. In fact quite often (at least in Poland) that cheap supermarket water is tap water put into bottles. So, unless you want one with sparkles there is no need to buy bottled water for a home. Just to have it when you go out. In Poland you can drink tap water straight from sink without being afraid at all.

Here in Sweden, we pay 30 % in taxes from our sallery but the medical care is pretty cheap and subsidised by the government. A visit to the ER cost about $40 and to stay in the hospital cost $13 a day and and when the costs go over $140 after that high-cost protection kicks in then it's for free. Same for the medication. All health care including dental under the age of 20 is free in Sweden. Moved from the U.S. over 35 years ago to Sweden and never regret it. Been having a ball here and just recently renounce my American citizenship to avoid the double taxation. Have no plans moving back to America ever again.

Brit here. My wife is purebred NY Sicilian. All four of her grandparents came from Sicily (Acireale, Castellamare del Golfo, Messina and I believe Catania). Been wed for 37 years, 32 of those years lived in the UK. We lived for four year in the US prio to that. I enjoyed the experience of living and working in the US (mainly because I knew it was temporary - the thought of living and working there for decades was a different matter altogether) I generally like Americans also (well, I guess I have to say that don't I but I genuinely do.) She made the final decision to move back to the UK as for the first year of our married life we had a far more balanced and contented lifestyle in the UK (no comparison). I've also lived and worked in Germany for years/ Central America/Mediterranean area and SE Asia and enjoyed all of them but as you might expect more content back home in UK than in any other placed I've been. My wife feels likewise. We holiday from time to time on Sicily and we both love it there. Yep I reckon we could live there if we were not so comfortably content here. For those who have not been to Sicily - treat yourselves. My wife's siblings would move here to the UK in a heartbeat were it possible, they've holidayed here and would happily have just stayed if they could. Prices have risen in the UK steeply but our travels to other EUropean destinations show us we are not alone in suffering those raises. I have to say our last holiday to the US (about 18 months ago) to FL surprised us at just how steeply prices had risen. As had the crime rate. We count our blessings every time we walk along the cliffs, through the forest and across the downs or visit a medieval town or village with a pub. As she said as we bought a joint burial plot a couple of months ago. "I've found the place I dreamed about living and working in and I've found the place I want to be buried in - life is good". Difficult to argue against that especially as when it comes to play time we have the whole of Europe within a max 3 hour flight. Off to Poland (Gdansk) in September, went to Ireland/Wales/Germany/Holland/France/Portugal/Spain/Italy/Madeira/ Corfu/Malta/Cyprus/Hungary/Slovakia/Chechia/Austria in the last few years. All from local airports. Europe is a great playground!

Of course it's cheaper with american income. :D Average salary in Sicily is 16k eur a year (around 1300 eur a month). A lot of these videos are very misleading, they tend to forgot to tell why it is so cheap there, because the people who live there make much much less than an average american. Also electronics and cars are more expensive than in the US in many EU countries.

why would anybody pay $500k+ for a nice-looking wooden shack with a tar-paper roof ? Wood rots, creaks, molds and gets blown apart in a strong wind. And there is NO WAY that all the materials involved in building this (illusion of) a nice building, would/should cost even 50% of the market price ! Solid good homes are built of bricks, mortar, steel, concrete, hardwoods, engineered plastics, reinforced glass, and have tiled, concrete or profiled steel roofs. And they are not built by fancy dancers who throw stuff together with a chainsaw and a nail-gun in 3 minutes flat. Fit for demolition 25 years later.

I am Dutch. Here its impossible to get a descent living for the money she discribes.

I cant wait for your Europe tour vlog. I have faith

Germany! I work at DHL for 13.50 per hr, 130hr per mth. After tax, it seems it would be better if I wasn't working. So much energy spent and the reward is miniscule.

Here in Europe, especially Germany, we pay a lot of tax, social insurence etc., BUT this pays for the education of our children, retiring, hospitals and so forth. As I understand it from a lot of videos, in the US you pay much less of taxes, and have to pay for every thing I named extra and then some. Yes, here in Germany we have cheep groceries, that are not very healthy, but we have much more of the healthy food. Here we have a saying: If you buy cheep, you buy 3 or 4 times. I taught that, to an family that had to flee their home country, and now after discovering, I spoke true, the tell this to other families in the same situation. Ian, sir, have a good day with your charming family!!❤❤❤😁😇. Elmar from Germany

Austrian here, a whole Chicken for about 3,- is not possible here. So it seems that southern Italy is especially cheap. But I´d say, a whole chicken for around 6-7 can be done. Not organic, though.

GRACIAS! 🤣🤣

When she lives fully in Italy and tries to get a job there, she might think different about how cheap living is. Without cash made somewhere else.

I live in an ugly suburb of Baltimore, and feel trapped like a rat. I wish there was some way I could live in the Swiss Alps instead!

Many Americans love de-regulation, and less government involvement. Most Europeans are nearly opposite. After cities like London and Paris were made unaffordable for their own native-born, other European cities took actions to preserve affordable housing for lower-paid citizens, and avoid loss of culture, tradition and colour by the overwhelming influx of rich, non-native newcomers. Prices should be driven mainly by costs of natural resources and world financial fluctuations (wars, natural disasters etc.). But if you allow rampant no-limit free-market profiteering, it drives inflation, enriches the already rich, and impoverishes people who used to have a decent living wage. Simplistic but true. Who was US President 2016-2020 ? When cost-of-living prices - and the US national debt - exploded. Wasn't he a billionaire ? Real-estate mogul ?

I've holidayed in various parts of the US since 1990. Back then, it was cheaper than Europe. Over the years, it's become more and more expensive. Eating and drinking out in US cities is now exorbitant. Price of wine in restaurants is insane.

Great reaction, yes things can vary greatly in both places but the fact that a salary of $100,000 dollars isn’t considered a really high wage is mind blowing (I’m in Scotland)

Please take a note : Northern italian use to say " south of Roma is already Africa". The is a very poor aerea. Go and live north of Italy, let's say In the Milano aerea, It will cost you twice more as a minimum.

Of course the more affluent people that move to places like sciliy, prices will inevitably go up making life more expensive for the locals. It becomes a never-ending circle that's hard to square

30K per year in Austria is already a "lower middle-class". I retired 6 months ago and have a monthly income of 1550 Euros (14 times, even in retirement i get the so called christmas and vacation bonuses). And it´s absolutely ok. I can pay my rent, my food, TV & Internet, i don´t need a car since the public transportation in Vienna is excellent. And i am completely insured. That means medical treatment, visits to my doc, or even if i should go to hospital - i don´t have to pay a cent.

14:23 And look, nobody has a car but the "American lady with the air conditioner". 😂😂🤣

In Sicily towns give you houses for free if you come live there

Im danish and seriously consider moving to the philipines or Thailand.

My cousin bought a house in Germany 30+ years ago for €90,000. The house has two floors and a yard large enough to mow some grass and let the children play. The house is located 2 km from the center and you can comfortably go for a walk and drink a coffee in the center. Today such a house as his would cost over €700,000, with the fact that if I were to buy such a house, I would have to pay for building materials for renovation min. €50,000. I come from Eastern Croatia🇭🇷and some things are 40% cheaper. But also better quality. For example, milk, meat, vegetables.

I was born and grew up in Italy I came to us when I was 29 now I’m 45 and from my experience I can tell you that when you move to a different country,you adapt to the lifestyle and accept things that you would not accept in your country so despite the income or the cost of living you just feel better.

All depends where you are. Europe is a big place with many countries, all very different. Although I have friends and family in America and always have a good time there, I wouldn't want to live there.

Don't move to the Netherlands, everything went up like crazy here

Well when it comes to housing, Italy is not very pricy. Depends on the country how expensive it´ll be. Especialy here in Germany you can pay up to a million € for a house. Countrys like Denmark or Italy for e.g. are very affordable when it comes to housing. You can easily buy a house in Denmark for under 30 grand :)

550 000$ for a weak wood house a few decades old, against a 62 000 stone house a few centuries old. 😊

WTF is she talking about?? Here in the EU WE ALL EAT AT 12. Its called lunch, and in Italiy they are even more strict about it. If you wark in acorporation or office, every one goes out at 12 for lunch. Also not eating in company is actualy not exactly a good thing, and people do not appreciate it in here. i mean if she is self employed she can take a lunch break any time any where. But if she wanted to go to Italy because she like the place, than i can understand.

In Finland my internet is 600MB and 35€/month.

In Central Europe - eg. Poland, when You want to buy a small apartment (60m2) in bigger City (not capital), You need to get loan/credit for 30 years. It costs about 160 000$. but when Your family budget is about 40 000$ per year You can afford to pay for every basic needs and some enterteinment for You, Your wife and 2 childrens. Basic needs means: food, internet, bills, additional medical iinsurance, transport, phone, education etc. And You can even buy used car.

I know a couple who moved from the United States to Lithuania because they want to start a family and have children. In Lithuania, we have 58 weeks of maternity (or paternity) leave 100% paid and another 58 weeks 80% paid. Maybe the climate is a bit cold, but great food, nature and a rapidly developing economy and innovation attract people.

Sicily is poor as hell to be fair

Antique furniture in Europe is never cheap unless it is a fake.

You need to know that Sicily and the southern end of the Italian boot are the poorest regions in Italy. The more north you go, the more expensive things get, and also the better payed the jobs are. Sure, if you make your money on YT or some remote work, its great to live there. But for the locals its not that easy, unemployment is high, wages are low. Thats why many people (especially in rural regions) have left and moved to the cities in the north. Or even other countries, like Germany or France or so. Its similar in many places in Europe, what are basically gems of beauty - but difficult to live in for the local population. You find that in Portugal, Spain, Greece, Croatia ect. If you have money you can live there like a king. And quite a number of people do that.

@17:17 I more or less expecting you calling: "Honey!!! We need plane tickets to Sicily! Urgently!!!"

Love your videos but most videos like this, including the one you are reacting to here paint a picture that is relatively "fake". I could make the same video moving from Paris to some little rural area in the US and show how cheap the US is. She is coming from a very expensive area in the US and moving to one of the cheapest areas in Europe. That isn't even to mention that she is living off of a US salary which is at least 2x more than she would make in Italy doing a similar job. Yes prices in Europe can be lower but our salaries are as well, even our "Free healthcare" usually comes out to about 20-30% of your salary going to taxes to upkeep the system, which is the same as an American spending 1500$ on personal life insurance each month. I love living in Europe and do agree with the systems in place but dislike this sort of fake propaganda.

SHE LIVES IN A POOREST AREA OF ITALY ,WHAT ARE YOU DOING THERE [ OF COURSE EVERYTHING IS CHEEPER ]. THIS IS A WRONG IMAGE OF EUROPE

I've found Gullane, Scotland, to be so soothing, after living in or near Chicago. funny name coincidence. I worked in Gallina. now I drive 20 mins to Gullane, to walk my old dog on sandy beach.

Ian, in Italy (Sicily) you can buy a house for €1 if you agree to fix it up and live there for 10-15 years. There are so many abandoned buildings due to emigration to wealthier areas. You can find videos of renovations here.

All prices in Europe are with tax included. So it's even harder to compare…

regarding the store, it was a small store (compared to what we find in France: 6300m2 on average) regarding the internet, it's 40eu per month for fiber with speed down to 1gb (and 2gb exists). mobile internet (4G, 5G...) is 20eu per month with 300gb of bandwidth :) But it is true that we pay very expensive rents in France (1000 eu per month for 60m2)

less than 2 dollars for 2 litres of soda here in denmark!bacon is hella expensive these days although we are one of the biggest pork exporting countries!

6:42 _Actual house in America_ Shows a wooden building with tarmac as a roof for half a million. If you stop painting it, it will be gone within 15 years. Where the huis in Itally is $60.000 and older than the state Georgia. Will still be there after you payed for it.

In Italy, the prices of houses and living in general vary a lot between north and south. Not only that, if you are looking for a house in a big city you will pay much more than if you are looking for it in a town or village.

Very interesting topic. I've seen several videos where people say that the minimum amount of money that people need to live comfortably is about $75,000 in the U.S but only about 20,000 euros in Europe, and I've wondered where that difference comes from. Especially because according to a lot of videos that tourists make, the price of food is about the same and it can also be higher in some parts of Europe. Maybe the most interesting difference for me here is the price of transportation. So she pays $1,164 a month in Atlanta and I pay 61 euros for a 30 day bus card. That certainly will ad up over time. Then it gets really American when she starts talking about how much she needs to save to be able to retire. Um... I've never known anyone who would save money for retirement because everyone gets a pension after they turn 65, that's not something that people would need to worry about themselves. If someone wants to save something extra for the future, sure they can, but that's not something that everyone would need to do.

Moving to Europe permanently isn't as easy as some might think. Europe is a diverse continent with varying immigration rules and is not an open land for everyone seeking a better life, including Americans. To stay longer than 90 days, you need a permanent residence permit. One way to obtain this is by investing, with minimum investment requirements starting at $250,000 and often including the need to create jobs for local residents. The more money you have, the easier it is to meet these criteria. For instance, here in Italy, an option for permanent residence is through demonstrating passive income, which is typically suitable for retirees. Another pathway is through Italian descent, allowing you to apply for citizenship. It's worth noting that anyone can buy property in Italy without needing permanent residency, but you still have to leave after 90 days and can only return after 180 days. While Italy and Europe offer many benefits such as a high quality of life, free healthcare, and affordable university education, obtaining the necessary documents for permanent residence is challenging and not accessible to everyone. So, my question to this KZfaqr is, how did you manage to live here permanently? That will be the most important question. I have for her and if you are still employed in the US I assume your consulting biz your us based you have to be paying double in taxes. Last point let me ask you to imagine what is like the life of the average Italian family of 4 living here in an average income of 1200 per month. Imagine what it feels to hear people telling us how good you live here in our country because it’s cheap and affordable to you. Btw I heard you saying “gracias” wrong country, the word is grazie.

Imagine taking a breath on that balcony for the first time and not immediately having to choke on car exhaust smoke

In Italy, all the food is of a higher quality than you can find in the US and you can shop cheaper than what she mentioned. Because in every city in Italy there is a square market where the farmers sell what they grow themselves, fresh meat from their animals and in Italy all the animals go outside and graze and they get feed from some factory but everything they eat comes from the land outside that has never been sprayed with pesticides. Even fresh fish that the fisherman has been fishing in the early morning, at coastal towns. The same applies to Spain. Then what she didn't mention in the video but that I know about, regarding the school food and that is that all schools in Italy have real kitchens where every day they prepare food from scratch with fresh ingredients. It is forbidden in Italy to use processed food, it is forbidden to use raw materials that have been frozen, everything must be fresh. Then every little Italian child knows since they are little 2-3 years old, they know where all the food comes from, what all the crops are called. At this age, the children are already allowed to participate in the butchering of animals. Then in Italy there you never stress and then most places are closed between 12:00 and 2:00 p.m. during the day because you take a siesta then and you do the same in Spain.

It's worth mentioning that Sicily is relatively poor, with high unemployment etc. That, of course, is reflected in housing prices. Grocery prices vary widely between European countrys. In Scandinavia, for example, you can easily double the prices mentioned here, if not more. Especially in my country, Norway. Utilities, like water supply, electricity etc. isn't that bad, although electricity has gone up a lot over the last few years. I'm surprised that internet connection is so crazy expensive in the US. With prices like that there must be people who can't afford internet connection in the US, which is basically unheard of here in Norway.

Sincerely, since the NW of Spain , recently nominated by National Geographic “the best place for holidays”, I don’t want see more tourist , never more . Please all to Albania or Greece or Croatia or Creta. Please!!!!

In the UK i can easily live on £1500 a month. I pay £500 a month in rent for a 2 bedroom apartment (would be more like £750 today but my landlord is chill), internet is like £25 for gigabit, phone is £10. My total bills monthly are less than £1000 total then add food and recreation and travel. I have 0 debt at all. No uni debt because i went to scotland, the concept of medical debt doesnt exist in the uk at all, it doesnt exist. My full time work week is 30 hours and i get 35 days off per year. I earn about 30k per year which sounds low but i mean i just dont need more money. I travel to spain, turkey, greece etc 5+ times per year because in the uk we have bank holidays which means you can often get a 4 day weekend so a lot of us just get a cheap flight to spain. Like i can get flights for as low as literally £9.99 to a bunch of places in europe, we also have 'city break' packages. An all inclusive family holiday in spain for a week for 5 people can be as cheap as £300-500. I drive a diesel 2011 skoda octavia (cost £750) and a petrol 2013 Nissan QashQai (£1000) my insurance is about £500 per year, petrol and diesel are about $7 a gallon which sucks but remember everything is closer in europe haha and my diesel skoda gets 55mpg easy on the motorway and the nissan gets about 35-40mpg. Quite a lot of us do have cars in europe btw you just dont need them for work or transport, theres 400 million cars in the EU compared to 300 something million in the usa.

Denmark we got Fiber-optic (up/down the same) Mbit/~$ pr. month : 2500/80 : 1000/60 : 500/54 more or les the same from all the ISPs

I live in my own house in southwestern Sweden, out on the west coast, about 20 miles northwest of Gothenburg, Sweden's second largest city. Admittedly I was lucky and bought my house about 20 years ago just before prices started to rise but you can still find nice houses in the area for much less than $400,000. Out in the countryside and up north, you can easily find a nice house for less than $200,000. For wireless 150Mbps internet with no data cap, I pay less than $40 per month. Food prices etc can be a bit difficult to compare as I rarely bulk shop but prefer to shop for fresh vegetables, meat and bread pretty much daily (we have plenty of good food shops, bakeries and farm shops here), but as far as I can tell is the prices may be a maximum of 100% higher than what she says. Water is completely free since I have my own deep-bore well, the water comes from the granite rock below the property, is completely unfiltered and tastes amazing.

It may seem like it's super cheap in Europe but you have to take into account the salaries people make, for example lets say you live in Spain, Greece, Italy or whatever and start comparing it to American prices for things, it might sound so cheap and good but when you look at the salary differences it's not as cheap for the locals. As an example now I used to live in Greece where my rent was 300 euro which is about a third of my current one in Sweden but the difference is that I make 4-5 times more in salary here compared to there.

Its not about prices only, its about freedom. You in America, you have like 50% of freedom compared to my country in central europe. I never met an american, who was not shocked about liberty and quality of life in my part of europe. I wish all the americans to start visiting other countries. You may find, that you can live a better life with your family and children in a safe country, where you get paid for your job properly and live in peace. Traveling is good, it opens eyes and mind.

A lot of smaller Italian communities have problems as their young ones very often seek to relocate to the cities in their areas. Hence many of them offer people buying houses in these villages/small towns at ludacrisly low prices. A friend of mine moved his family from Sweden to the middle of Italy after finding a 500 sqm house for more or less 100€. He spent 50K renovating it into what he wanted and went for it. They're less than 1,5 hrs away from Rome, an hour from the coast. It's not for everyone though as in order to get the housing so cheap you actually do have to commit to live there full-time. Most Italians in the countryside are also on the older side meaning they mostly only speak Italian. So gotta learn the language for the full quality of life.

As European I think it is important to add that real estate prices vary wildly by location. If you want a house or a flat in a prosperous city - forget about 62k ... more like 200+k and it is modest, not American mcmansion with unnecessary extra bathroom attached to every room including a garage. Just to paint a picture - I live in a relatively small city (about 55k population) in Slovakia (EU), most people here are earning national median average or slightly more but we have very small unemployment rate (about 2,5%). Average 3 bedroom flat in 40+ year old shitty commie block costs about 120k. If you want to build a house in one of surrounding satellite villages, that 62k would be enough for a plot of land underneath it (if you want a little bit of green space too) so realistic price would be 180k for a 1 bathroom 3 bedrooms+ 1 living room 1 story house or up to 300k for newly build 2 story house with 2 bathrooms. For 62k you can have a detached garage 2 streets away fro your commie apartment and lightly used Passat to park in it. Yes there are regions in my country and the EU or rest of the Europe where you can buy a house really cheaply BUT it is because there are either no jobs or local average salary is way below national average so you basically have to work remotely or take a pay cut and work work for local company with local salary.

The average U.S. household income in 2022 was $105,555, while the median U.S. household income was $74,580. Adjusting for inflation, median household income dropped 2.2% from 2021 to 2022. According to the annual report by ISTAT (July data), the average salary in Italy in 2023 amounts to 27,000 euros gross per year.

Check ouit the food deserts and issues smal towns have with dollar stores..

2:47 Definitely a 'straw that broke the camel's back' situation, but it's probably what she thinks back on.

I'm as you could say dirt poor. Internet per month is 23€ I have only bough water few times in a year, 'cos it is free in a tab. This is one of the most expensive countries in the world, or so I have told. My living expenses are about 800€ per month (9600€/y). I don't have a car, I bicycle everywhere around the year.Only thing that worries is the electricity. In wintertime, it has made people rethink the usage of the electricity, 'cos they are bankrupted for the bills. The country I live in is Finland.

And in addition, in tomorrow's ad in the local Saaremaa (Estonia's largest island) newspaper, there is an interview with the US ambassador to Estonia, George P. Kent, and he says that "There is no city in the USA that is as safe as yours".

In Poland, the TV Plus Internet package (1gb/s) cost about 35$

France suppose to be a very expensive country to live in and my monthly grocery spending is about 250€(271$) for three people. And I buy bio products and direct from local farmers. So it’s cheap and way more healthier than USA. And here in central France three bedroom house coast around 400000€(435000$). So it’s still lot cheaper than USA. And we don’t have medical spending and half of our transportation spending and half of our health insurance as well as totality of life insurance policy is paid by our employers. We have 31 day summer vacations and 15 to 20 days winter vacations as well as two days per week free so we have the time and money to travel around a lot( we even get free 300€ vacation vouchers and 250€ restaurant vouchers by the employer). And the state gives us a 100€ voucher per a year to pay for the electricity bill. If we need to buy ecological transportation( electric cars electric bikes cycles etc) state helps up to 3000€ financial aid. So you see in the end France is a way better place to really live than money hungry capitalist USA

I recently had a conversation with American lady who asked us whether we have Adidas in Poland. 🤦 I asked "Why wouldn't we? They're German, so the company is just across the border". She was so confused. And when I told her that the name comes from founder Adolf Dassler (doesn't sound very American) she looked like this: 🤯

If you move to scandinavia you dont need to buy water on bottle. The water you have in the tap is better quality than most expensive bottled water

An American who travels to Sicily. Usually it's the other way around with some bodies in Chicago