The Top Questions About America: Housing, Work, Cost of Living and Income
In this episode I answer the questions that come up again and again among people who live in America and those who are thinking of traveling or emigrating to it. In this part I take four questions, and we will complete the rest in a later episode.
Question one: how do I find a place to live when I arrive?
This question is very important for anyone with a family and children. A single young man has an easier time. To answer accurately we need a quick background on renting in America.
Apartments and houses are rented in two ways: either by dealing directly with the owner of the house, who here is called the “landlord,” or by dealing with a company, whether a real estate broker or the company that owns the property itself, in which case the company becomes the landlord. Dealing with an individual who owns the house is usually easier and his requirements are fewer, while companies have more requirements and they are a little more complicated.
Renting a home is somewhat hard for a new immigrant, because everything is tied to the credit score, which you have not yet built in America. The landlord or the real estate company can run a background check on you and see your criminal history, that is, whether you have had financial or legal problems before. They can also see your credit record and whether you have a history with banks or not. If your record is bad or does not exist, they will know.
My advice to a new immigrant is one of two things. The first is to try to rent through an Arab person he knows, whether that is the owner of the house or someone who works as a real estate broker or in an institution, since he may be lenient with him on the rental conditions. The second is to find a “co-signer,” a guarantor who signs the lease with you and has lived in America for some time, so the owner or the company has no problem checking his background and credit history.
There is also a third way that I do not recommend because it can cause problems: asking at the nearest mosque for someone who wants to sublet his apartment. That means the lease is in his name, but he wants to rent the apartment to someone else. Arabs usually do this in two cases: either the tenant rented at a low price and wants a monthly profit from the difference in rent, or he is away for a long time, such as a summer vacation or living in another state.
These are the traditional ways, and you can take the same steps online. There are many websites and apps in America that let you see the unit you want to rent, review the contract in detail, and finish everything online. The requirements are mostly the same ones I mentioned.
Question two: how do I find work after I arrive?
Following the pattern of the first answer, there are traditional ways and online ways. I always advise every new immigrant to follow both ways together.
The best-known way is to ask around you. At the beginning you will want any job that meets your need and covers your expenses. The easiest way is to ask at the mosque near your area. Mosques here are not like the mosques in our Arab countries. They are closer to the mosques in the time of the Prophet, peace be upon him, that is, the nucleus of the Muslim community, with everything in them and offering many services. Every mosque has a large bulletin board where people write the opportunities available and what they need. You will find people offering apartments for rent, people looking for roommates, people who have jobs, and people looking for jobs.
I am not saying the mosque here is the nucleus of the community as it was in the first era of Islam in our Arab homeland, because our rulers turned the mosque into a house of worship only, and stripped it of the context it had in the early days of Islam, which was that it is the center of the Muslim community where everything concerning Muslims takes place. What matters is that the mosque here in America plays this role to the fullest, and I believe any church has the same, and you can easily find in it everything you want, because society itself is free and moving, and the rulers themselves do not have an obsession with restricting religion.
In the traditional way you can also go around and ask at restaurants and shops that might hire you quickly, and ask everyone you know around you.
The second way, which is always the easiest, is searching online. I personally found work, easily, for new immigrants who had just arrived in America by searching online.
Question three: how much does living cost for a person and for a family?
As usual, the traditional way is to ask around you or at the nearest mosque or church, or to search online, and I always advise both ways together. In general, because America is a continent, the cost of living differs from city to city and from state to state, and even within one state it can differ greatly between one city and another. Cities in high demand are expensive because everyone wants to live in them, and cities with no demand have very low living costs. In the end it comes down to your judgment: where you want to live and why.
In a city like New York, from my personal experience, a single person can spend about $1,500 to $1,600 a month, and a family of four needs on average about $3,000 or more a month. The biggest cost in New York is housing. That is why I advise a single young man to go to New York: he will find work easily and can save as long as he lives with a group of young men, renting a room or a bed in a room and sharing the housing costs and bills.
A whole immigrant family, though, I do not advise to live in New York unless it has reserve money. The rent per person is on average about $750 a month and varies from place to place. The most expensive place is Manhattan, where you may pay about $1,000 a month for a room or even a bed. In a cheaper place such as Staten Island the rent may be between $500 and $600. The average rent for an apartment for any family in New York will not in any case be less than $1,650 or $1,750 a month, and that is for someone renting now, and you may find someone who rented long ago at lower prices. So choosing New York for a new immigrant with a family is not usually the best choice.
The rest of the cost of living in America is somewhat lower than rent: bills, food, clothing and children’s expenses. As for health insurance, do not be afraid of it if you already have it, but it will be a very big problem for you if you come without insuring yourself, and then it will be the most expensive item in your cost of living.
In general, if you can get a salary averaging $4,000 or $5,000 a month, it is quite enough for a good life in America, whether you are single or have a small family that does not spend much. The cost figures here are approximate, from my experience at the time of recording.
Question four: will my income let me live well, and can I save from it?
The answer is compound because it differs from one profession to another. If you are in a good profession you will earn a high income and save from it as well. But a new immigrant who is content with a job that only keeps him going, and does not try to develop himself or look for another job, will live well but will not be able to save.
And note that the phrase “live well” differs from one person to another. For some, living well means eating and drinking well, raising their children, educating them and treating them when ill, and that is that. For others, the concept of a good life is quality of life, so they look for a high level of it that includes a large share of entertainment and enjoyment, and that is their right. But that requires the father or the mother or both to work in a good job with a high income that covers these costs.
Overall, if you work in a middle job, not very high and not very low, and you can control yourself and your spending, you will probably be able to save in America. If you are not in a good job and your spending pattern is large, you will probably not save. Likewise, someone with a very large income whose expenses are high and large will probably save nothing at the end of the month. So in the end you are the captain on this point, and you are the one who can steer the compass right or left.
Article originally published on 3 October 2026.