How much to earn to live "comfortably"? (Houston: coupons, apartment)

[testmo]

I think people here are older and out of touch with costs now. I worked with people who made in mid forties and high 30s. They commuted 1hr in rush hour from their apartments into the city one way for a 40k job and only thing they ever talked about was being out of money until next paycheck or working with family for unexpected bills. heck i knew full grown women with snapchat boyfriends for cash to help pay rent and gas or kids. People save for retirement now (hundreds of dollars taken out of pay check) plus much higher cost of living. Decades ago people didnt have and do all that (studies back that up).

61 sounds like a good number for me.

[curbur]

I think people are balking at $61k being high because some people are out of touch with the cost of living difference between far exurbs or lower income suburbs vs inner loop prices.

[OldDocKat]

There are too many variable factors. If you have a mortgage, it will cost more to live comfortably than if it is paid off. If you eat out often, if you need to buy clothes regularly, if you drive where gas costs is a consideration. If you have kids who you support, it makes a big difference. If you have many extra utilities such as high speed internet and cable TV, with those record machines, if you have two or more phones; the phone use bill may add up to more than 100$ a week.

My house is paid off, gas is a fill less than once a month, unless I am traveling. My utilities are very reasonable and besides that I have inexpensive internet and phone, Having three closets of outdated everything is not a problem when one is older. My kids are grown and support themselves. I do not have very high property taxes, and my annual home and auto insurance costs is less than a week's paycheck.

I am able to live on less than one quarter of what it would cost an average young family with two kids.

I would say an 'average family' on 'average city' America would need 80K to live comfortably, for me, it is easy on a quarter that amount.

[shanv3]

Originally Posted by elnina

The average Houstonian needs to earn nearly $61,000 per year to "live comfortably."
The website said it accounted for "rent, groceries, utilities, transportation and healthcare" costs before doubling that total "to find how much money a single person needs to earn in that city to follow a 50-30-20 budget," which, it explains, means "50 percent of income covers necessities, 30 percent is for discretionary items and 20 percent is saved." Keep in mind, this probably doesn't account for common expenditures specific to Houstonians, like bullets, boots and barbecue.

How Much Money You Need to Live Comfortably in the 50 Biggest Cities | GOBankingRates

pretty accurate...however i spend 5k to live comfortably..

[txstate]

yeah with a wife..

[PinkLadyK]

Also, keep in mind the original parameters were that you were saving $1000/month. I doubt the people making $40K are saving that much.

[Lowexpectations]

Originally Posted by PinkLadyK

Also, keep in mind the original parameters were that you were saving $1000/month. I doubt the people making $40K are saving that much.

To be fair it was saving 20% and of 61k that would be about a thousand a month however 20% of 40k is 666.67

[wrxrick]

I used to make 40ishk and saved about 1k a month. I did, however, eat at home often. I didn't travel when I didn't need to. Paid for basic internet. Lived about 30 min away from town in an apartment. Single and no kids. It's possible to live "comfortably" but it's still stressful at 40k.

[huma281]

If you include all expenses minus car/home loan, less than $1,500 a month for utilities, food, property taxes, insurance. This is roughly $18k or less annually.

With a home/vehicle loan, at least $30k.

Everything is based on your lifestyle and if you're married or have kids. This is for just me. If I had kids, probably at least another $10k/year.

[atadytic19]

Not long ago I was making about 40k a year, saving 1k a month, had cable, superfast internet, had cell phones for both me and my partner who was not working atthe time, went on vacations at least every three months, shopped for clothing at least once a month and was never short on cash.