19 Monthly Expenses To Live In The UK: A Guide For Americans

You finally found a place to live and think the majority of the moving pain is over, and then realize you haven’t got a clue about utilities and monthly living expenses in the UK.  Hopefully, that’s not the case, but it was ours!  Our move from the US to the UK happened in warp speed so researching expenses in detail before the move to England didn’t happen, let alone understanding the cost of living in the US vs the UK.  It is completely unlike me to leave such moving details unturned but they were the circumstances of our expat move.  Before you decide to move to the UK, here’s what you need to know about utilities to set up and living costs in the UK.

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How To Plan Monthly Expenses In The UK

It’s been nearly 3 years since I became an American expat in England and I’ve learned a thing or two about managing utilities and monthly expenses in the UK.  But before getting into the details, bear in mind that living costs in the UK will vary based upon:

• Where you choose to live in the UK will have a massive impact on your monthly expenses.  Some of the best neighborhoods in London can run you £10K per month.
• Size of your family and hence the number of showers, long baths, laundry and electronics that run all day every day.
• Do you live with minimalism in mind or are you wildly extravagant?
• How energy efficient is your property?  Are you living in a listed property where windows are the same as they were 100 years ago or has the home been modernized?  This alone will play a massive role in expenses to heat the property.
• Will you rely on public transportation or own a vehicle? If you plan to own a vehicle, does the property include parking (ie, parking permits, parking space rental, etc)?

Estimate Expenses Before Moving To England

While these certainly aren’t all the considerations to factor into monthly expenses living in the UK, they play a massive role in estimating what you can expect to spend any given month.

Some expenses you can set up before the actual move from the USA to the UK, but many require evidence or paperwork that’s only possible to attain until AFTER you relocate.   But that shouldn’t prevent you from estimating monthly expenses before the actual move.  I simply didn’t have the headspace to add estimating expenses to my to-do list before moving to the UK.  However, in hindsight, it’s one of my regrets and is why it’s at the top of my moving to the UK checklist.

With all that said, I’ve broken down major expenses based upon my own personal experience living just outside of London.  You can use this as an example to estimate your own monthly expenses living in the UK.

Complete The Expat Negotiation Kit

Reference the monthly living expenses summarized in this post, cost of living calculators, prediction of where you might move to in the UK, along with your own forecasted living expenses to complete this expat spreadsheet.  It’s already populated with real living expenses (mine!) to help you determine if you can afford to live in the UK or what you need for a salary to make the move worth it.  Click for the expat negotiation kit.

Compare The Average Cost Of Living UK Vs US (where you live)

The average cost of living in the UK vs the US is a really difficult question to answer since most financial companies compare London to NY, which is like comparing apples to apples.  But interestingly enough, Numbeo reports that the cost of living in the UK is -6.5% cheaper than living in the US in 2019.  Again, that’s comparing London to New York.

The -6.5% number shouldn’t be used if you plan to move from a more affordable US city than NYC to the UK or you’ll be sorely surprised.  However, if you are moving to London from NYC you might find yourself with a bit of a raise.

Aside from two of the most expensive cities in the world to move from and move to, consider other UK cities, villages or towns that are less expensive to live, such as St Albans, Glasgow, and Manchester to name a few.  My recommendation is to estimate monthly expenses of at least £2000 per month for a family of four, not including rent.

My advice aside, be sure to compare the cost of where you live now with where you want to live in the UK using a cost of living calculator.  The cost of living calculator provides a current overview of what to expect for most major living expenses – even the cost comparison for an imported beer!

Monthly Living Costs In The UK

With the shock of price differences out of the way, here’s a detailed breakdown of what you need to know to set up utilities and example monthly expenses living in England. 

Bank Accounts or Utilities – chicken or the egg?

Before getting into the details of living expenses in the UK, it all starts with a bank account.  Or does it? 

Getting a bank account will likely be the hardest thing you set up.  It’s a vicious cycle between the bank and utility companies.  You need a bank account to set up utilities, but you need a utility bill for a bank account.  This was by far the most frustrating yet most important thing to do first as an expat in England. 

If you or your partner have a letter from your sponsor company, you will be able to establish a bank account.

However, the partner without the sponsorship letter doesn’t count as qualifying to receive a bank account – even if you’re married. 

The best way to move forward to open a bank account is to attach the spouse/partner name.  For myself, the trailing spouse, it took 3 months to establish a bank account. 

Here’s what I wish I had known when I started the bank account process:

• The utility bill does not need to be solely in your name.  It can have your partner’s name (the one with a bank account) and your name.  You need your name on it to provide to the bank.
• (for iPhone users) If you want to use the bank’s mobile app, you’ll need to download it from the Apple UK Store and not the Apple US Store. In order to download an app specifically available in the UK, you need to switch your device to the UK. 
• (for iPhone users) Here’s the dilemma with switching your device to the UK: Per the London Apple store and Apple reps, you can’t switch between the 2 Apple stores or accounts/apps downloaded from the US Apple store may no longer work. You have to open a second Apple account with a different email.  I’ll explain further down in the Apple section how to do that.

Monthly Rent In The UK

The BBC reports that rent in London is 50% of wages.  50%!  Whereas in the US, it’s 30% (with millennials spending up to 45%).

With the % rental cost of living in the US vs the UK being higher, it’s important to factor in all the expenses before deciding where to live so that you can determine if you can afford to live in England.

Short-Term Rent Living Cost In The UK

Before moving into a property with a long term lease, we rented a furnished flat for several weeks.  Renting a short term property allowed our family to acclimate to the new surroundings and even feel like a London tourist for a while.  It also delayed the start of any real living expenses because they were covered under the short-term property rental. 

Our short-term rental was a tight place to live for a family of four and a dog, but it also happens to be one of the best things we did when we first moved from the USA to the UK.  

A short-term executive rental can cost £100-£150 per night for a double bedroom in St Albans, so plan on a higher rate in London.

Long-Term Rent Living Cost In The UK

For a long-term rental property with 3 bedrooms, plan to spend nothing less than £1500 per month to live outside of London.  I consider this to be on the low end of a 3-bedroom rental in the UK.

If you are planning to move to London, plan to spend nothing less than £3000 per month.  Again, this is on the low end.  Rental homes near the American School in London which are 3-5 bedroom homes can start at £9000 per month.

Location, size of the garden, proximity to posh neighborhoods, transport, housing type and how updated or old the home is (is it a listed property?) can determine the monthly expense in the UK for rent.

A 5-bedroom house with a garden, parking, and listed can cost £4000 per month in St Albans.  You can get more value for the property by moving just outside of London.

Living Costs In The UK – Utility Breakdown

Not all of these expenses may apply to your particular living situation and some may not be included unique to you.  However, these are a start to help you sort out your living costs in the UK.

Iammoving.com – Who To Call To Set Up Utilities In The UK

There is a brilliant utility service called iammoving.com in the UK that allows the landlord or renter to use one website to essentially notify all utility services that you are moving.  The landlord or property management group from whom you decide to rent triggers the notification and this is how most engagements start to set up utilities in the UK.

So, if you receive what feels like a typical random marketing call, it’s likely a legitimate utility service company in the UK trying to help you proactively set up utilities and make sure you receive the best rate.  The states could really use something like this!

You do not have to request the landlord to trigger iammoving.com for you.  You can create an account and start the process on your own.

Water Utility

Water is typically served by one provider only in the area you live, so there aren’t choices to select from.  Thames Water serves London, Affinity Water serves St Albans, Hertfordshire and so on. 

For a large family 4-bedroom home outside of London, water costs roughly £300 per quarter for “high” water usage.  This is based on estimation since the property doesn’t have a water meter. 

Water is estimated as low, medium, high, or metered.  Many homes are estimated but slowly converting to metered water – pay for what you use. 

Paying a water bill on “estimated” vs actual use was hard to comprehend as compared to living in a US city.  However, it does allow you to worry less about fluctuations so that you can plan the water cost for an entire year.

To estimate how much water you think you will use, use this water usage calculator.

Gas and Electric Utility

Gas and electric living expenses are combined into one monthly bill and paid via direct debit. 

You have to record the numbers as taken off the gas and electric meters and enter onto the supplier’s website.  Not going to lie – there was a bit of a learning curve with figuring out how to record gas and electric numbers.  Your entries are used to accurately bill you.  If the numbers are not entered, then they estimate your usage. 

Gas and electric usage are broken into a Day Rate and a Night Rate.  These numbers might also be called Rate A, B or Rate 1, 2 on the respective gas and electric meters.  It takes some practice to sort it out!

When signing up for gas and electric you need to inform what user type you are, “low, medium, or high”.  Then iammoving.com will share tariffs based upon that usage from different suppliers.  Iammoving.com truly saved a lot of time.  I had both gas and electric set up in about 5 minutes with iammoving.com.  You can also call the utility provider directly but you will not receive competitive rate information.

Although it’s been reported that gas and electric for a 5 bedroom house can cost as low as £137 per month, our average monthly gas and electric expense are around £290 pounds.  Although it’s important to point out that our house is nearly 300 years old, very drafty, laundry is running around the clock and someone is home most of the day.  We are considered a “high” usage home.

TV and Internet Are Typically Bundled As 1 Expense

The 2 primary options are Virgin Media and Sky. 

Beware that not all American networks are available in the UK.  In fact, offering different American networks is what will most likely differentiate between going with Virgin Media and Sky.  Another primary differentiator is whether or not the service is available in your neighborhood at all.  This is the case for where we live in the UK.

A few important network callouts for Americans moving to the UK:

• The NFL is only available through Virgin Media.
• HGTV (for Fixer Upper fans!) is not available in the UK at all.
• Maine Cabin Masters is on DMAX (important for my New England expats!).
• SNL is available on the Sky Comedy channel.

A VIP package that includes broadband, bundle sets, movies, and the NFL package is approximately £90 per month.  After a year, the price goes up.  In order to keep monthly tv and internet expenses down the contract needs to be renegotiated annually.

Telly License Is A New Expense For Americans

It’s required by the UK government to have a TV license. 

If you watch any programming in your home, regardless of what type of device you’re watching it on, you must have a television license or you could be fined. 

A TV license costs £155 pounds per year.  You must purchase your tv license as soon as you start using media in the UK. 

Amazon Prime UK Is A Separate Expense From US Prime

Amazon Prime US is not the same as Amazon Prime UK. 

They are not linked at all, though it seems like they are. 

You must sign up for Amazon Prime UK even if you’ve already paid for a year subscription for Amazon Prime US.  Once you do that, I highly recommend paying for the full year vs. monthly subscription.  An annual Amazon subscription is cheaper and it also offers more benefits than a monthly subscription.  You can try a 30-day trial for Amazon FREE.

We ran into challenges setting up our Amazon Household Prime but it was due to first signing up for the monthly subscription and my husband’s profile was set to the US instead of the UK.

Amazon Prime lessons learned here:

• Sign up for the Amazon Prime UK account….we kept the US one as well for Christmas, birthday and other gift purchases for the US while living in the UK.  You can try a 30-day trial for Amazon FREE.
• Pay for the annual membership in full to save money over the monthly subscription.
• Before you add any family member to the account, make sure your partner’s login/profile is set to the UK.  

Monthly expenses in the UK for Amazon Prime are £79 a year, or £7.99 per month.

Apple ID – Beware Before You Switch Your Apple ID To The UK

In order to download apps only available from the UK Apple Store without losing your US apps, you need a UK apple account.

To avoid losing all your US-based apps, open a separate UK Apple Store account using an email address different from your US Apple Store email address.  Add a UK based credit card and billing address.  A UK based credit card is only required for app purchases.  Only a billing address is required for free app purchases.

After setting up a separate UK Apple account, you can switch back and forth between the US Apple Store and the UK Apple Store without losing apps or data.

For help creating a second Apple ID, follow these instructions.

Monthly expenses for Apple are based upon your iCloud storage.  If you require additional data for iCloud storage, be sure to factor that into your monthly expenses.

Home Security System Could Be Required

Paying for security is one of those expenses you (me) forget to factor into overall living costs in the UK. 

Alarm systems are different than ones in the USA so I’ve been reluctant to use ours, but we were forced to renew the security system as part of our contractual agreement the first year.   

If you have a Kingfisher alarm system, it can run you up to £450 per year or £37 per month.

Contents Insurance & Car Insurance Are Cheaper Bundled

Contents insurance can be time-consuming to sort out and not as straightforward to get as living in the USA. 

If you want to insure a significant amount, it requires additional underwriting.  For example, we tried to get contents insurance for over £20,000 but after an hour of interviewing and answering questions, it became clear getting that sort of coverage would take a herculean effort.  Not to mention, incredibly expensive.  

Contents insurance for £20k in coverage can cost nearly £1000 per year.  That initial quote forced us to look into other solutions, such as banks and comparative shopping. 

Comparethemarket.com is the best resource for getting estimates on insurance coverage.  It was the most convenient method for procuring insurance and by far hassle-free compared to other sites and resources used for quotes.

For basic contents insurance on a large home, estimate £330 pounds per year.  

In order to add jewelry (a diamond ring, Rolex, etc) to a contents insurance policy, it must have a current valuation by a professional valuer.  A purchase receipt or valuation must be dated within the last 3 years in order for it to be accepted.  It can cost nearly £300 for a diamond ring or watch to be valued by a professional in England.

Use Comparethemarket.com for car insurance quotes. Admiral Insurance consistently offers the best value car insurance option for an American with no driving points established in the UK.

If you bundle contents with car insurance (modest car, eg. Mini Cooper), estimate at least £700 pounds per year for both.

Transportation Options Include Various Methods & Expenses

The monthly expense for transportation will depend upon what you choose to primarily use to travel to work, school, etc.  Cars can be as reasonable or expensive as your personal taste dictates.  Leasing a simple MINI Cooper costs roughly £300 per month, but that can go higher if you want all the bells and whistles.

According to Statista, 12% in the UK always use public transport and another 20% for frequent use.  Whereas, Pew Research reports 11% (2016) for the USA.  So it’s important to factor transportation into monthly expenses for living in England.

Even though we own a car, we also have an Oyster card, a Family Rail Pass, and purchase Travel Cards for day trips to London.  All of these can add up fast and are surprisingly expensive.

Monthly expenses in the UK for public transportation can include:

• A leased or owned monthly car expense.
• An Oyster card costs £5 and then you pay or top up as you go.  An off-peak ride (cheapest) starts at £2.40.
• A Family Railcard Pass can significantly reduce the cost of a fare to London, Edinburgh or any other train ride from and to a train station.  A Family Railcard pass costs £30 for one year and totally worth it for a family of four.
• A London Travel Card allows you to travel between specific zones.  The more zone access, the higher the cost of the ticket.  A ticket cost starts at £7 for Oyster users and £12.70 for non-Oyster users.

Mobile Phone Will Be Less Than The US

Mobile options in the UK are amazing.  Either I’m missing out on something great in the states or communication options are just that much better in England. 

You can keep your US mobile phone number by porting it to Google Voice for $20.  Keeping your phone number is great for those that maintain USA based accounts.  It’s also the best way to call 1-800 numbers in the USA for customer service and let’s be honest, good old fashioned parents or grandparents that aren’t current on WhatsApp. 

Plus, several USA accounts don’t offer an option to store an international phone number.  As a result, you might want to keep 2 mobile numbers: a US and UK one.

The UK has fantastic mobile options: Vodafone, EE, O2, Sky Mobile, BT Mobile, and Tesco Mobile to name a few.  Your mobile phone plan in the UK will be the cheapest expense benefit between living in the US vs UK.  You can get a plan with unlimited calls, unlimited texts and a ton of data for as low as £10 per month.

Vodafone Red Entertainment allows you to use your UK phone while traveling in Europe and in the USA at no additional cost. 

City Council Tax Can Make Or Break Your Monthly Expenses In The UK

This is the monthly expense that can seriously trip up expense planning for living in the UK. 

Be sure to read the tenancy agreement in detail so you know what Grade listing your house is which is used to determine the amount of taxes to pay annually (or monthly).  You can also search in advance for the Council Tax band for a home.

No one prepared us for this expense, so it’s important to ask before you sign up for that home you’re in love with. 

Check the city council web page to estimate taxes for the county you’ll be living in.  

St Albans Council Tax runs anywhere between £1000 and £3300 a year.  You can pay in installments but this one hurts if you don’t expect the expense.

Schools Are Free Or Spendy (Private vs. Public)

If you manage to plan accordingly and get into a state school, then you don’t have to pay anything as these are government-funded.  If you’re like us and have to go the British private school route, this will range from a couple of thousand to several thousand pounds a term.  Plan accordingly!

Miscellaneous Monthly Expenses In The UK

There are other household expenses to factor in your total living cost in the UK.  Your own situation will determine what’s relevant, but be sure to inquire about any of these with your landlord during the rental process.  Negotiate what you can with the landlord or the sponsor company that might be relocating you:

• Gardener = £10 to £20 per hour.  Plan at least 2x/month with gaps during winter months.  
• Housekeeper = £10+ per hour
• Babysitter = £7+ per hour (Refer to sitters.co.uk for current hired rates)
• Gym Membership = £850 for a couple for 1 year.
• Chimney Sweeper = ?.  Yes, just like Mary Poppins!  We didn’t have to pay for our chimney sweeper but be sure to ask as part of your rental agreement. Factor a chimney sweep at least 1x/year if you plan to use your chimney and then multiply by however many chimneys you plan to use.
• Wise (formerly Transferwise) = Wise is essential for expats who need to transfer money between bank accounts in different countries.  The transfer cost depends upon the current exchange rate and the amount transferred.

Final Tips On Living Costs In The UK

There may be additional factors to consider before moving to the UK (like an icebox!), but the above pretty much covers it all for a healthy family of four in a detached large British home.

Monthly expenses for expats in the UK can vary depending upon where you live.  Ask your realtor for guidance and if you’re moving to London, Wise offers calculators and other resources to sort out what to expect for utilities and costs in and around London.

Wherever you choose to live in the UK, estimate monthly expenses as an expat right away.  Use this expat negotiation kit to find out if you can afford living abroad and what to negotiate so you can enjoy living abroad stress-free. 

Once you plan your living costs in the UK, you can start budgeting for all the things that make being an expat fun: sight-seeing, travel, culture, and living somewhere new.  For the full guide on how to move to England (school checklists, dog moving checklist, househunting questions…) and love it, get the Moving To England Workbook.

Do you live in the UK?  What monthly expense in England did I miss?  Please share in the comments.

Looking for more living in England resources?  Try these.

• How To Access Blocked American Websites
• Mail Forwarding For Expats – What You Need To Do
• For planning all the details of your move to the UK, get my MOVING ABROAD CHECKLIST.