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

OneEyedDiva

OneEyedDiva

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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:
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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.
 
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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
 
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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.
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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?
 
Aunt Bea said:
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.
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In Holland the poverty level is not poor. I had 50 a week for a while with 3 kids after I helped someone out. No food bank or anything. Yeah it was not fun, but the reason was that I had a house with a room for each kid. And I see that all the time when someone complains on Dutch tv that they're oh so poor. They can always just go to the foodbank and they always have a house like I had. Rent rooms out, split the house up. Don't ask me for money when you get just as much as me, but want to have a house and a car.
 
I don't doubt the statistical analysis the mapping is based on.

Personally, I've lived a satisfying life by keeping "wants" below 30% — and feeling comfortable with that. That means not always obtaining the latest, greatest, and shiniest of consumer products. Also, probably my DW and I have met needs by doing somewhat more for ourselves, compared with the norm, rather than paying for everything. Undeniably, over time savings have proved their value.

We've been fortunate to live as part of a group of friends and neighbors who are supportive of one another, and share a great deal. This doesn't mean every neighbor, but enough to make a difference over what I believe is the North American norm. And, if you looked at us as a group, we also support local, independent business as much as we can.
 
The math is not right. We are spending 60-70% for our needs, not 50%...which is messing up our wants and savings. This is causing a lot of anxiety. I feel like a community should promise to look out for each other, no matter the size, other wise inequality grows, and so does corruption. But from a child to adult we are taught to look out for numero uno.

To live comfortably we need a secure home. Our constitution is to help provide our domestic tranquility. Bach then it meant safety from enemies, but now it means security in a home. Without that there is no foundation to build the life we want. And it is getting worse now. The money needed to even the playing field is being gobbled up by the million and billionaires.
 
OneEyedDiva said:
This map shows the income required for a comfortable lifestyle
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That is a nice map, it is good to see 'a comfortable lifestyle' level of income instead of the barely existing income levels that are more frequently cited.

I noticed that Omaha was more expensive than Baltimore, and that aligns with my experience. Though, in Omaha there is an easy option of moving out into the more rural suburbs where homes are cheaper, and then commuting (which is easy due to how small Omaha is).

When I was in college in the Washington DC area, I moved to Baltimore because rental apartments were much cheaper there, and then commuted to class.
 
That Lady in PA said:
It doesn't work that way, though!
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Yes, it does. I worked from home for 14 years, starting in 2006. 5 of them were for a headquarters based in Miami. I saw minimal increases. 6 of them were for a headquarters based in Seattle. The Miami headquarters was eliminated and moved under the Seattle umbrella. It was when it moved to Seattle that I saw significant increases.

Human Resources didn't look at where employees were located. They looked at ideal salary levels for Managers, Directors, VPs, etc. and tried to maintain equity among employees. I was making much less than my counterparts in Seattle, so my salary was brought up to company standards, even though I didn't live in Seattle.

When I hired my sales team, they were hired with a certain salary/bonus regardless of where they lived. Of course, experience made a difference, but I had a sales rep in CA offered the same compensation as a sales rep based in NC. Same with a Sales Manager in Sydney, Australia.

Tech employees employed by our Seattle headquarters lived all over the country, and they were privy to the same salary measurements. The reality is that even larger companies don't have the time or resources to set salaries based on cost of living in a particular area when so many are home-based.
 
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OldOld said:
I am guessing the vast majority of workers don't have the same luxury of working from home for 14 years.
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I know I was an exception at the time, but I managed a sales force in the US, South America, Asia and Australia at the time so I could have lived anywhere. And if you don't ask, you don't receive.

These days, it's more than you might expect.

As of early 2026, approximately 22% to 28% of U.S. employees work remotely at least part of the time, representing a stabilization of remote work at roughly five times pre-pandemic levels. While fully remote roles have decreased slightly, 52% of remote-capable employees now work in hybrid models, and only about 21% are fully on-site.
GallupGallup +4
 
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