I'm a Canadian who is currently having to weigh a possible temporary move to South Africa. I've been asked by my company to take a 7-9 month assignment in Johannesburg before permanently relocating to the United States. I'll be up front, I'll be paid into a US account to skirt taxes, but I'll be paid according to Canadian standards, which are much lower than American. Realistically, is it possible to get by reasonably well living off about USD$125,000? In Toronto it's do-able, but you can't afford a home or anything. I imagine Johannesburg is expensive, but I'm hoping I'm not jettisoned into a tight money situation. I also have a wife and two kids, whom are both young. Basically, what I want to get a sense of is, can I afford to rent in a safe area and pay for the kids to be in a private school? I'm not sure how good/bad public education is, but I'm assuming private is the better/more flexible option. The other big thing: I've lived in big US cities and crime there is relative. It's mostly contained to very specific areas outside of the cities themselves (except Oakland). Often, suburbs with a high concentration of African-Americans, so American cities feel really safe. I know there's crime there, but how "safe" is the city? Can I walk around after dark as I do in Toronto or NYC or is that still really risky? I am weighing my options and based on research, it either says $125,000 is poverty wage or you'll live like a king. There doesn't seem to be any actual information from actual South Africans, so I thought I'd ask.   submitted by   /u/PT14_8 [link]   [comments]