It is vastly more expensive to live in the UK than in the US. We have much more powerful purchasing power than any other place in the world and that is why we have much better standards of living.
Last year, my daughter passed through Britain on her way home from Italy, and found EVERYTHING to be ridiculously overpriced.
Anyone who I know who has visited England said it was very expensive. My daughter went to London and the only place she could afford to eat was McDonald’s and it was higher than here at home.