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

[Brookswood]

A lot depends on the city.

I was recently visiting friends out of state. Everything there is cheaper: housing is 1/2 the price, haircuts, insurance, property tax are all less. Food is a good 15% less than where I live. I might actually move there. My states idea of helping lower income people is to tax $100 more from them, here and there a little at a time. And them give them some benefit worth $53.65 and brag signal about how they are helping the lower income people.

 

[StarSong]

A lot depends on the city.

I was recently visiting friends out of state. Everything there is cheaper: housing is 1/2 the price, haircuts, insurance, property tax are all less. Food is a good 15% less than where I live. I might actually move there. My states idea of helping lower income people is to tax $100 more from them, here and there a little at a time. And them give them some benefit worth $53.65 and brag signal about how they are helping the lower income people.

I live in one of the highest cost-of-living states and can't imagine moving unless my kids did. Even then, it would almost certainly be to another high COL state (Hawaii, Oregon or Washington).

Many aspects of my life carry more weight than a bank balance.

 

[Brookswood]

I know where I will go if I can’t afford to live in my very high COL state any more. But, I am not telling anybody. I don’t want all you cheapskates to go there and drive up the demand for shelter, food, etc.

 

[asp3]

I was surprised to see cost of living in San Jose was higher than San Francisco and Oakland. Glad to be in the East Bay.

It makes sense though. In San Jose one needs a car to have a comfortable life. In San Francisco and Oakland the public transportation is good enough that you don't need a car as much. Also since San Jose has rather poor live entertainment options one usually has to travel to San Francisco or Oakland to get some decent live entertainment.

 

[josephine]

It makes sense though. In San Jose one needs a car to have a comfortable life. In San Francisco and Oakland the public transportation is good enough that you don't need a car as much. Also since San Jose has rather poor live entertainment options one usually has to travel to San Francisco or Oakland to get some decent live entertainment.

I can totally relate to that. Whenever I have the chance on weekends, I usually leave San Jose and go to Napa or head up into the nearby mountains.

Santa Cruz and Big Basin Redwoods are both great choices.

 

[OldOld]

And a lot of renters in San Francisco or Oakland lived there cheaply because of the rent control law. They locked in their rent 20+ years ago and now pay cheaper rent there than the going rent in Oklahoma city. Of course, those rental units are usually very outdated, but still somewhat functional.