Sunday, September 18, 2011

Moving to Anchorage



Today we look at moving to Anchorage in USA from Funafuti in Tuvalu. We highlight cost of living and other major differences likely to be experienced in our series of short blogs on moving between different international locations.

In Anchorage people speak English. In Funafuti people speak Tuvaluan and English.
Anchorage is a consolidated city-borough in the state of Alaska. Funafuti is an atoll that forms the capital of the island nation of Tuvalu. Anchorage's largest economic sectors include transportation, military, local and federal government, tourism, and resource extraction. Large portions of the local economy depend on Anchorage's geographical location and surrounding natural resources. The Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport is the world's third busiest airport by cargo traffic, surpassed only by Memphis and Hong Kong. This traffic is strongly linked to Anchorage's location along "great circle" routes between Asia and the lower 48 states. Funafuti has an airstrip, hotel (Vaiaku Langi Hotel), and administrative buildings, as well as homes, constructed both in the traditional manner, out of palm fronds, and more recently out of cement blocks.

The overall cost of living rank in Anchorage is 125 out of 300 global locations, which equates it with middle cost of living locations.  An expatriate moving from Funafuti to Anchorage will experience a change in cost of living of 3.6%.

In terms of the hardship people are likely to experience, assessed in global terms, Anchorage is ranked as a some hardship location with a hardship index of 20% compared to Funafuti with a hardship index of 30% which is a high degree of hardship location.

Source: Cost of Living Anchorage USA as at July 2011.

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