Hi Stuart,
At the moment, with the current exchange rates, you're probably going to find living almost anywhere in Europe fairly "expensive" compared with the US. Besides the sinking dollar (a good reason to try to have your employer put you on the local payroll rather than paying you "back home" in dollars), there's the VAT, which adds 15 to 20% to most things you purchase while living in the Netherlands (or anywhere else in Europe).

There are a couple of US expat groups I know of in the Netherlands - google FAWCO (that's an umbrella group of American women's clubs) and you should find links to their various chapters in Amsterdam, the Hague, Rotterdam, etc. Most of them publish booklets or information sheets on living in the area that you don't have to be a member to buy, and the information is super.
Cheers,
Bev

Welcome to the forum. Do you have a European passport, moving on a company relocation, going to study there, or are you marrying someone from there? I'm asking because I have seen a lot of posts here on this forum from people who don't realize that they can't just pick up and move somewhere, that visas are required, and that in Europe they are very hard to get and only granted under certain circumstances. I'm not sure why we assumed you are American, however.

You might get a better response if you post in the Other Countries section.

Hi Stuart,

I'm a dutch girl living in The Hague, but I've live all over the place including the States.
I hope i can help you with your question. First, Amsterdam is the most internationally oriented city in the netherlands (though most of them are). Therefore, rental appartment prices are INSANE.
Dutch people often say they would like to work in Rotterdam, party in Amsterdam, and live in Den Haag, and i woud have to agree. The Hague is a beautiful city, with lots of green, great shopping/dining/etc., and the prices are way lower than the ones in Amsterdam. What I would suggest you look out for though is expat rentals. Currently a lot of appartments are "expats only", which means that being an expat will give you more chance to get the appartment AND the prices are usually lower (seeing as us dutchies can't apply). Consider though that appartments, however insanely prices, usually go within a week...
Ready for the shock then? We have a 3 room appartment of about 70m2 (dont make me recalculate to ft please ), and we pay 1000 euro's all in. Now, location matters and we do live in a VERY good neighbourhood.
In Amsterdam we looked at an appartment of 45m2 that cost 1200euro's all in....
Oh and for jobs I highly recommend a company called Undutchables (not allowed to post URL's apparently), it has lots of info about what you need, and a lot of jobs. I can personally say they rock because my swedish boyfriend is now working at a job provided by them.

Hope this helps...
Loes

Loeske17, welcome to the forum and thank you for the information. To protect the forum against spam, a certain number of posts are required before you can post links.