Salary Needed To Live Comfortably in Major U.S. Cities

OneEyedDiva

OneEyedDiva

SF VIP
Location
New Jersey
Shown in map form; article starts below the map. I'm surprised that New York City, Jersey City, N.J. and San Francisco aren't higher. It would be interesting to find out what average salaries are in these cities, but I haven't taken time to do that.

"This map shows the income required for a comfortable lifestyle across 56 U.S. cities, factoring in housing, food, transportation, savings, and discretionary spending." https://www.visualcapitalist.com/mapped-the-salary-needed-to-live-comfortably-in-u-s-cities/
 
Thanks for sharing. Not surprised about the incomes needed in the Northeast, California or Seattle. No wonder we've seen such an influx in Texas. Imagine someone who is employed by a tech company in Seattle, making their standard salary, working from home and paying for the cost of living in Texas. :oops:
 
seadoug said:
Thanks for sharing. Not surprised about the incomes needed in the Northeast, California or Seattle. No wonder we've seen such an influx in Texas. Imagine someone who is employed by a tech company in Seattle, making their standard salary, working from home and paying for the cost of living in Texas. :oops:
Click to expand...
Yeah if they can work it out like that. Salaries in lower income states are often commensurate with cost of living in those states. One of the reasons my son is not going to move to North Carolina where his wife resides is because he would lose a significant amount of pay even though he would be transferring within the same company. In fact, even if they moved to south Jersey, his salary would be reduced because the division he works for is not available in those locations. So when DIL finishes her courses (being paid for by the state of N.C.) they agreed they'll live up here.
 
Last edited:
Interesting.

From the map: “single adult, based on the 50/30/20 rule: 50% needs, 30% wants, 20% savings.”

No amount of income is enough without proper management.

"Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pound ought and six, result misery." - Charles Dickens
 
Last edited:
Too bad they excluded Albuquerque, one of the cheapest cities to live in that has a million people in the metropolitan statistical area.

Also the amount of money to live comfortably is very subjective and everyone is different, so I wouldn't put much stock in that chart.
 
if you have to ask the salary question in California or NYC, you can't afford to live there "comfortably ", but you can live there "frugally ".
 
It’s hard to get a good read on the standard of living with just one bit of information.

In my city the median family income is $57,000.00.

28.8% of all residents and 40% of children live below the federal poverty level.

A comfortable salary for a single person is in a range of $65,000.00-$75,000.00.

We have several large companies, a large state hospital, several colleges and universities that pay excellent wages but many, many, people are mired in poverty due to their personal choices and circumstances while others have simply been left behind.

The thing that always fascinates me is that we all seem to make it work.
 
Aunt Bea said:
In my city the median family income is $57,000.00.

A comfortable salary for a single person is in a range of $65,000.00-$75,000.00.

The thing that always fascinates me is that we all seem to make it work.
Click to expand...
I understand. Living comfortably means different things to each of us. When I take an average of the amount I've spent each year over the past 3-4 years, not only could I make $65,000 work, but I could save half of it, without missing out on anything I wanted or needed.
 
OK, I see the issue I'm having with this data. The 50/30/20 formula they use doesn't even come close to how I manage my finances. I have zero debt, no car payment, rent or mortgage. A few years back I moved to Albuquerque explicitly to make money and increase my savings for retirement. Even including rent (I lived in a small freshly remodeled apartment in a decent neighborhood) my total bills averaged 30% - 35% of my net earnings (after taxes).

I just find it hard to imagine the majority of Americans manage their finances so poorly according the the data?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top