USA, Canada /
Would like to move back to Poland from New York after living in USA for 20 years. [155]
My house in the USA, brand new construction, 300 sq. meters, property, driveway, Jacuzzi tub in the master bathroom, central air, 2 car garage, brick siding, community Olympic sized swimming pool, tennis courts.....less than half of your 350,000 number.
I am sure you can find plenty of decent houses in PL for PLN350k - in smaller towns + villages. Property prices are mostly about location. You say PLN175k for your fancy new house-where would that be? In my area (commuting distance to NYC), in a neighbourhood with decent schools, you need to pay $500k MIN for any old house. (Add to that $8-12k property tax/yr).
in the USA, there's no VAT. or the fact that gas is probably 3 times cheaper.
True, no VAT, but we pay property and sales taxes instead (even on used cars)! If you care to look into things like childcare and summer camp/activities costs for children, they can easily be 5-8x those in PL.
...if you want to discuss cost of living, compared to Poland, it's a no contest.
That certainly seems to be true for majority of cases. But again, all depends on your particular circumstances, as there are many well to do folks in PL living a higher standard than most in US.