QUOTE=Unregistered;937

"Housing: Overseas my employers were always paying vastly higher rents than would be the case in NZ."

For what you pay over here, the same would be the norm for larger and better insulated in Chicago, St. Louis and Denver.

A quick look at adverts on line for these cities is available. As for the rest of the post, translating NZD into USD as a valid comparison for cost in NZ is simply incorrect. Price Parity such as is listed with OECD stats show that 3 NZD buys about the same as USD in their respective countries. So a medium hourly wage of 20 in the USA would buy about 30 dollars worth in NZ where the median wage is about 20 per hour. A full broadband package with full cable access, unlimited internet and phone cost about 100USD in the US while it is not even available here in NZ.