Income Needed to Live Comfortably in 50 US Cities
With serious savings in an expensive city, you can make ends meet. A comfortable life, however, is another matter entirely. Using budget guidelines of 50-30-20 , GOBankingRates calculated the income needed to live comfortably in 50 US cities.
According to the 50-30-20 budget rule, half of your after-tax income should be spent on basic necessities, 30 percent on discretionary spending, and 20 percent on debt or savings. With that budget in mind, GOBankingRates analyzed cost-of-living data from the US Census Bureau and other agencies to determine revenue totals for the 50 most populous cities in the US.
They explain:
GOBankingRates compared the cost of living [50] of the most populous cities in the United States by examining dollar amounts of living expenses including rent, groceries, utilities, transportation, and healthcare. That amount, which takes into account the essentials, was then doubled to determine how much money a single person must make in this city to meet the 50-30-20 budget. The study also compares the total required income with the actual median household income in each city to see if the differences in the cost of living match the differences in wages.
Of course, defining comfort is very subjective, so keep that in mind when looking at these numbers. You might well say, “Hey, I live in Los Angeles and I don’t earn much, but I’m comfortable!” The situation is different for everyone. Plus, in some cities, it is easy to find excellent housing for much less than average, which will significantly lower your housing costs. Nonetheless, the 50-30-20 recommendation is a decent measure for quantifying something equally subjective.
Here are a few cities on their list, as well as the income needed to live comfortably in these cities:
- San Francisco : $ 119,570
- Boston : $ 84,422
- Washington DC: $ 83,104
- New York : $ 87,446
- Los Angeles : $ 74,371
- Denver : $ 62,842
- Nashville : $ 61,015
- Baltimore : 53,897
- Houston : $ 60,795
- Miami : $ 77,057
The study includes a breakdown of how much of that income will be spent on housing, discretionary spending, and savings for each city. Check it out at the link below.
How much money does it take to live comfortably in the 50 largest cities | GOBankingRates