A few musings for all you potential new guys.
Your sign-on bonuses are taxable. You're going to lose ~30% of it. But you don't necessarily have to pay the tax on it straight away. When I started at CommutAir, they had a $22k signing bonus, contingent on you staying 2 years. Depending on your contract, you don't have to pay tax on it until that money is actually yours, ie after 2 years. YMMV.
Commuting long term blows. Being that more than likely none of us has an attachment to any particular part of the US (extended family etc), you're going to want to live in base. What this realistically means is, anywhere within a 2 hour drive of your base. For example, there are some very cheap areas within 2 hours of Newark, like Allentown PA. When you're only doing this drive 4 times a month, it's very manageable. This applies more or less to every HCoL area that airlines tend to have bases at.
When I first came to the US, pay was $38/hr. It sucked. I have friends who bought their wife and children with them too, on just that one income. It sucked for them too, but they survived. The regionals are significantly more comfortable now that they're all $50+ now. It doesn't sound like a huge difference, but it is. After 2 years, when you're either a regional captain or LCC FO, the QoL you will have here easily beats out what's achievable at Virgin or Jetstar.
The US really is all about what you can make of it. For those of you still on the fence, the water is very warm, and it's getting warmer by the month. Good luck y'all.