Housing prices in the United States are related to population distribution. Generally speaking, the east and west coasts (mainly new york and surrounding cities, as well as California) are a little more expensive, while the central region is a little cheaper. In addition, almost everyone in the United States has a car, so everyone's life has expanded a lot, and there are many choices when buying a house.
The median price of American houses is currently around $200,000. As I said before, things are expensive at both ends, so the house prices in most parts of the United States are below $200,000. I have been to two central cities in the United States this year, one is Detroit and the other is Kansas City. In terms of population, these two cities rank between 10-50 in the United States, which is considered as a second-tier city. However, the population is less than 6.5438+0 million, and all the larger counties in the country are bigger than it. The house price is also cheap. A building is only tens of thousands 10, or even less than 10, and it is a good house in the early 200 thousand.
But the terrible thing about these cities is that they have a small population, and there are no bustling crowds in China. Sleeping at night, there is no noise on the road outside, and naturally there is no rich nightlife. In fact, Americans living in these second-tier cities are also quite boring, so young people will still go to big cities such as new york and LA.
American income
The United States is a country dominated by large enterprises, and every city is similar. Shopping, eating at Wal-Mart, buying home appliances at Subway, buying clothes at Bestbuy, buying shoes at GAP, and going to Nike, these big companies monopolize almost all the daily consumption of Americans, and they are ubiquitous giants, so it is natural to hire local employees everywhere. Coupled with telecommunications and banks, a large proportion of Americans in small cities work in these large enterprises, and their income is also very balanced, about 30,000-40,000 years, which constitutes the so-called middle class in the United States.
The annual income is 30,000-40,000, excluding tax and insurance, that is, 20,000-30,000, excluding living expenses, that is, half, one year deposit1-20,000. It takes150,000 years to buy a house. But these people are locals, and many of them have houses in the local area, so the demand for buying a house is not so strong.
What industry has high wages? Most of them are high-tech industries, such as doctors, lawyers, finance and technology. In America, you have a skill that others can't, and your income is always higher. Microsoft engineers at the bottom earn about $654.38 million a year. The White House secretary, in China, must be a senior civil servant, but some time ago, the news said that it was only over 30,000 a year.
In Seattle, where Microsoft is headquartered, house prices are much higher than those in ordinary second-tier cities. In addition to Microsoft's reasons, but also because it is close to the sea, housing prices have the value of speculation. The data shows that the median house price in Seattle soared from 1, 22 1 000 in 1989 to 447,000 at the peak in 2006. However, after the financial crisis, the median dropped to 340,000. If you are an engineer in Microsoft, your annual income is 65,438+10,000 yuan, and tax and insurance account for about13. If you take 60,000-70,000 yuan, you can save 40,000-50,000 yuan a year, so it will take about 10 years to buy a house. Of course, this is just the idea of China, and Americans may not be able to save that much.
Of course, not everyone can get a job with an annual salary of 654.38 million at Microsoft. If you work as a waiter at Starbucks, your income is in the range of 30,000-50,000. Then if you want to buy a house in Seattle, the pressure will be much greater.
American university
Compared with housing prices, education is a more terrible thing for Americans. As we all know, the best schools in America are eight Ivy League universities, including Harvard, Yale and Princeton. In addition, there are some schools that are not Ivy League, but they are all of the same level, such as Stanford, Chicago, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and California Institute of Technology. These schools add up to 20, all of which are private. Therefore, judging the performance of American schools, the top 20 is a grade. Americans have some money and want to squeeze into these schools. There, after four years, it will basically cost $200,000, which the average person can't afford.
These 20 schools are followed by state schools, and each state has 1-2 schools. It constitutes 20- 100 American universities. But California is an exception. There are 10 schools in California, and each one ranks well. Everyone is familiar with Berkeley, California. In our opinion, this is a big school. But in California, as long as you can read a little, you can basically get in? -This is what a friend in Berkeley told me. Actually, it's not surprising to think about it. There are already 20 universities ahead.
State schools are cheaper for students in the state. For example, California students enter these 10 universities in the California system, and the annual tuition fee is about 7000-8000. The cheap one is the community college, which costs only a few hundred dollars a year. Of course, it's worth it.
American immigrants
All kinds of people poured into Los Angeles. A large part of them are Mexicans and other people at the bottom of Asia, Africa and Latin America.
There are 5 million illegal immigrants in the United States, most of whom are Mexicans. Los Angeles is one of the closest cities to Mexico, so many old Mexicans are camping here. Mexicans are hardworking, and they do almost all the dirty work. Lao Mo doesn't have high requirements for life, as long as he has a job, he will be satisfied.
The US government also turned a blind eye to these 5 million illegal immigrants. America cannot live without them. Get rid of them all Who will do this dirty work? What's more, their salary is very low, and the boss is willing to use it, just playing dumb.
So in Los Angeles, when you go to Wal-Mart, the employees are all black. Only in Kansas City, Wal-Mart is a white waiter.
American price
The United States has a consumption tax, which is about 8%- 10%, and each state is different. You have to spend 108 yuan to buy things 100 yuan. Tips should be given for meals, generally 10- 20% after tax.
Generally speaking, Americans can get by with a monthly income of 2000-3000. Take 100 yuan to the supermarket to buy a car full of things. Buying clothes during the Spring Festival, 1, 000 yuan can buy a lot of clothes.
Vegetables and fruits in the United States are relatively more expensive than chicken and pork, because they are seasonal and cannot be mass-produced on demand; Another reason is that there is a shelf life. Therefore, Wal-Mart in the United States rarely sells vegetables and fruits, because it cannot achieve nationwide logistics deployment. Vegetables and fruits are generally sold in some local supermarkets. Another feature of the United States is the farmer's market. Just like the fairs in China, they are held regularly. Farmers bring fresh fruits and vegetables to the city center for sale, which is very popular with Americans. Fresh and diverse, of course, the price is higher than that in the supermarket. These farmers have just seen a market that big retailers can't do.
American tax
Americans think that taxes are heavy, which is one of the main reasons why they scold the government. So how much tax do Americans usually pay? This is really a difficult question to answer. The main reason is that the United States has a tax rebate system. Ordinary people have to file tax returns every year, explaining to the government how much money they earn a year, how much tax they should pay and how much tax they have paid, and then the government will refund a part of the tax according to everyone's different situation.
As far as personal income tax is concerned, people with an annual salary of 30,000-50,000 generally pay taxes (including federal taxes, state taxes and other different types) with 1/3- 1/4 of their income. The higher the income, the higher the tax.
In the link of tax refund, generally speaking, the heavier the family burden (housing, children), the more tax refund, and some can even be returned in full. Single young people who have just graduated without real estate have the heaviest tax burden.
In addition to personal income tax, the United States also has consumption tax. You have to pay consumption tax on everything you buy, and the tax rates vary from state to state. Since the financial crisis, many states have raised consumption tax. Raising the government consumption tax by 1 percentage point can increase the income by more than 10%, which is a considerable amount. Of course, every time it is mentioned, the American people will scold it once. After all, I am pulling your wool.
In addition to personal income tax and consumption tax, a large part of personal tax burden is property tax. Property tax also varies according to different regions and specific housing conditions. Similarly, there are lengthy laws that classify the uses and grades of houses, and the tax rates vary from state to state. Luxury property tax is the highest, with the average residential property tax rate of 1-2% and the national average property tax rate of 1.38%. As I said before, you have a house of 100 square meters in Manhattan, 100 million, and you have to pay more than 100 million in taxes every month.
Property tax can curb housing investment, but there is still money to be made. A Manhattan house with1000 square meter, with 2-3 bedrooms, can be rented for 2000-4000 yuan a month, and the after-tax income is 1000-3000 yuan.
American taxes are very heavy. Counting the part of corporate tax passed on to individuals, nearly half of Americans' income is used to pay various taxes and fees.
American primary and secondary schools
American primary and secondary schools are mainly public schools. Of course, there are private primary and secondary schools with good quality, but it may cost tens of thousands of tuition fees a year, and most people will not consider it unless they are particularly rich.
Public schools enroll students according to school districts, so Americans also buy school districts for their children's education. Although there are no artificially established key high schools in the United States, as long as we know which district the school is in, everyone knows whether it is good or not.
American primary and secondary schools don't need tuition. But there are some other miscellaneous expenses, about several hundred dollars a year. There are school buses to and from school, and yellow buses are also common in American movies. Moreover, there is basically no pressure for primary school students to study.
American students apply for the college entrance examination after graduating from high school. Everyone will apply to several schools, and sometimes they will be admitted at the same time, so choose one. These materials are mainly submitted at the time of application. One is the report card and ranking of high school, and the second is the SAT, which is equivalent to our college entrance examination. The SAT is taken seven times a year in the United States. Students can take the SAT in Grade Two and Grade Three, as long as they get the score before applying. If you fail in the exam, you can cancel your grades and retake the exam. These two are the most important. University enrollment in the United States mainly depends on scores and rankings. If a university wants to say that our freshmen are of high quality, it is necessary to compare the SAT scores, or say that what percentage of our students' high school scores are in the top 10%. In addition, there are letters of recommendation, what awards you have won and so on, all of which are attached together, and these are all somewhat watery.
American traffic
Almost everyone in the United States has a car, and it costs tens of dollars to register in DMV (equivalent to our vehicle management office) every year; It costs tens of dollars to do exhaust emission testing every two years. In addition, there is no other government expenditure. Driving test is also tens of dollars, there is no compulsory training, as long as you think you can drive, you can take the test. The other is insurance, it's up to you. Auto insurance of 500- 1 0,000 a year is within the normal range.
Oil prices are also relatively cheap. It's about 600 kilometers from Los Angeles to San Francisco. According to the current oil price in the United States, the cost of driving 600 kilometers is about $50, which translates into 350 yuan in RMB. And there are almost no toll stations in the United States for high-speed kilometers.
Air tickets are also relatively cheap, from new york in the northeast corner to Los Angeles in the southwest corner, across the United States. The round-trip air ticket plus tax is about $300, which translates into RMB 2,000. Therefore, even for low-income people with a monthly income of $65,438+0,000-2,000, traveling is not a distant thing.
American land
The land area of the United States is over 9 million square kilometers, which is equivalent to that of China. But there are also many places that are not suitable for living.
First of all, Alaska, a state with a population of only 600,000, is a little bigger than Xinjiang.
Secondly, the southwestern United States, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico are mostly desert areas. Other western States, such as Utah, western Colorado, Montana and Wyoming, have large areas of mountains. Some areas have some mineral and timber resources, or are suitable for dry land agriculture and animal husbandry, and the living environment is not ideal. This land covers an area of 2.2 million square kilometers (western United States 1 1 state, except California, Oregon and Washington, which are close to the Pacific Ocean), which is slightly smaller than the combined area of Tibet and Inner Mongolia (2.3 million square kilometers). With such a large piece of land, the total population is just over 2 1 10,000, which is equivalent to the population of Inner Mongolia.
It is not difficult to find that the vast western part of the United States is actually somewhat similar to the western part of China. The climate is dry and water resources are scarce. Like Las Vegas, it is a city built in the desert; We can't survive any longer, so we have to gamble. However, there are many national parks in this large area, such as the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone National Park. Americans probably don't have many places of interest because they don't have much history, so these national parks have become the first tourist attractions for Americans, and tourism is a big income in these areas. The number of tourists in Yellowstone National Park alone is equivalent to that in China.
So which places in the United States are suitable for living? Or where do Americans live? Statistics tell us that the four most populous states in the United States are California, Texas, new york and Florida. The total population of these four states is about 1 100 million. In other words, one-third of Americans live in these four States. If we make further analysis, we will find that the population in these areas is actually very concentrated. The population of New York State is about 20 million, of which 65438+300 million live in new york City and its surrounding eight counties (excluding neighboring New Jersey and other states). 70% of California's population is concentrated in the Bay Area in Northern California and Los Angeles in Southern California? San Diego Line 1. Two-thirds of the population of Texas is located in four metropolitan areas: Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and Austin. 30% of the population of Florida lives in Miami.
By the way, this is the American land system. The United States can own land from the government to individuals. For example, national parks are land owned by the federal government; State parks are land owned by the state government. These parks, whether in mountains or deserts, are owned by the government; The government usually builds roads and opens them to the public. Some lands are hills, forests and deserts, which have no use value or even sightseeing value. The government will also enclose these lands and count them as state-owned land. Therefore, in wasteland states like Utah and Nevada, more than 70% of the land is owned by the government, which is called public land.
American library
In America, there are public libraries everywhere, from cities to villages. Libraries are local, generally belonging to a county or a city, and managed by local governments. Local residents can use it for free. Just show your ID card to prove that you live here, and you will get a library card, which will take only 5 minutes soon. A book can be kept for three weeks and can be extended. This library has several branches in this area. You can borrow books from any branch library. If your branch doesn't have the books you want, but other branches do, you can make an appointment and they will transfer the books from other places. The books you borrowed can be returned at any branch library, and there is no limit, which is very convenient.
There are all kinds of books in the library, most of which are novels and biographies. There are also some books that meet the needs of life, such as guidebooks, which are found all over the world, including China. There are also intellectuality, historical geography, science and so on.
What is particularly good is that everyone has a children's book department, and the books in it are suitable for children of all ages, from one to two years old to teenagers, with pictures and texts, and all kinds of books.
Besides books, there are usually newspapers and magazines. Most of them have videos, and now they are DVDs. Mainly some artistic and serious films, as well as documentaries of science, education and culture. Some also have music CDs. The library has a computer, which is mainly used for searching books, but it can also surf the Internet for free. Other libraries lend maps and even small sculptures for home decoration.
In addition, some university libraries are also open to the public. Although they charge fees, they charge very little.