Posted on 04/19/2016 12:47:45 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Unless you're tracking expenses carefully, it can be hard to tell whether your city's cost of living or your own spending habits are the cause of your financial troubles.
Using the 50-30-20 budgeting rule, for example — in which 50 percent of income covers necessities, 30 percent is for discretionary items and 20 percent is saved — you can quickly determine whether your income is sufficient to cover expenses for living in your city. If it isn't, you might have to cut costs or maybe even move.
GoBankingRates conducted a cost-of-living comparison of the 75 most populous U.S. cities, surveying dollar amounts of living expenses including rent, groceries, utilities, transportation and healthcare. This total, which accounts for necessities, was then doubled to find how much money a single person needs to earn in that city to follow a 50-30-20 budget. This study also compares the total amount of income needed to the actual median household income in each city to see if differences in cost of living are matched by differences in pay.
(Visit GoBankingRates for the complete list and methodology.)
Click through to see how much money you'd need to earn to live comfortably, before taxes, in the biggest cities across the U.S. The cities are listed in order of population from smallest to largest.
Bakersfield, CA: $43,425
Income needed: $43,425
50 percent for necessities: $21,713
30 percent for discretionary spending: $13,028
20 percent for savings: $8,685
Based on the median household income of $56,842, Bakersfield, residents have an extra $13,416 more each year than what is needed to live comfortably.
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Arlington, TX: $46,904
Income needed: $46,904
50 percent for necessities: $23,452
30 percent for discretionary spending: $14,071
20 percent for savings: $9,381
Arlington has a local median income of $53,055, which is $6,151 more than the income
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
FROM THE LIST, GET A LOAD OF THIS:
San Francisco, CA: $119,570
Income needed: $119,570
50 percent for necessities: $59,785
30 percent for discretionary spending: $35,871
20 percent for savings: $23,914
San Francisco residents face one of the of the biggest gaps between their actual incomes and ideal incomes needed to live in the city, with the $78,378 median income falling $41,192 short of the income needed to follow the 50-30-20 budget.
Elizabeth Warren Rule..No thanks how about my rule.
0% wants 100% needs
We clear over $300k in Dallas and have only recently felt like we’re comfortable, that is until we have to write the big screw us check to the IRS...
We make six figures in San Jose. Certainly not living the life of Riley.
I have not lived comfortable in PA since Obamacare sucked money out of my pockets.
But don’t you feel good saving mother Gaia via the California Carbon Tax?
And now, for those that want nothing to do with cities and living in an ant farm:
I’m in trouble. How much to live in Mexico City?
If they weren’t so graphic heavy with stock photos of cities, the page would load 50 times quicker.
20 percent for savings? Get real, a lot of people don’t (or can’t) save any money. The smart ones do save their money, but many people are living beyond their means and have nothing in the bank. Especially if much of their money is going for rent alone. What’s left gets spent on food and booze.
Here’s a link to the site that really has the info:
http://www.gobankingrates.com/personal-finance/much-money-need-live-comfortably-biggest-cities/
I presume the SF number is for people that neither own a home or support a family. $119K doesn’t go very far there.
Sounds like everyone in SF should get a raise to $57.50 per hour, so they can make a “living wage”.
ping for when I’m not so dang busy....
Was amazed at how much they say it costs to live in Houston. Must be why we live in the suburbs where housing is less expensive. When they were interviewing people yesterday who were complaining about no one helping them with evacuation, food and water during the flood realized it is no wonder Houston is in such a world of financial hurt. Gal said they were thousands of low income people in assisted housing who “have been waiting hours for somebody to help” them.
Going to be interesting when we have another hurricane and all these poor helpless people head north to Dallas without food, water, diapers or any financial resources. Hope you save some of your money to help them out - our family is out of here and headed for the Hill Country.
It says you can live comfortably in VA Beach for $50,000. What a load! I’m a single man and I couldn’t live comfortably on that!
Yeah, I’m thinking “Savings” here is really a euphemism for “Starbucks, lottery tickets, those really cute shoews, the occasional joint, or whatever else trips our trigger at the moment”.
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