>I stopped feeling the pressure around $120K.
Similar trajectory, and I'd agree, but primarily if you're single.
$140k-$150k is when I stopped feeling the pressure with a wife and kid, single income household (post covid/WFH). Anything above that is where you can somewhat comfortably plan for savings, vacations, upgrades, etc.
We're around $138k, one income, soon to have our first baby. We feel very comfortable with this income, but we're also not obsessed with lifestyle creep.
Unfortunately, it’s not cheaper by much. Then again, it depends if you live in: 1) Manassas, Prince William County, 2) City of Manassas 3) Downtown Manassas 4) City of Manassas Park.
Then, if you have children, you have to worry about the school districts in each of the different Manassas
Our address is technically in the historic district, although we're not REALLY there. We're about 5 minutes out.
ETA: We recently moved from Tacoma, WA. So while the housing market is pretty much the same as there, everything else is MILES cheaper. So our $138k stretches way farther here than it did there.
IIRC in a history of Manassas from the history channel late night docu series, “Small Towns Where it Depends” when referring to more than one Manassas you would call it MENasses.
You change the first and last a’s to e’s and stylistically interchange the accent over the middle syllable for a more striking first syllable accent; and finally-the last s is silent.
As in most things ridiculous, you can thank the French for their popular influence at the time in our own search for a national identity.
I'd say this is fair. similar situation, although only comfortable with a sub 3% mortgage lol I'm around 220k and feel comfortable, but still requires diligent balance sheet work to hit savings targets. It's certainly not the 'rich' lifestyle I would have imagined at this income, but I feel fortunate to no longer need to estimate my grocery bills while shopping like I did back at 60k when I moved to the area.
I would say post. I was making $120k pre-covid, and $140k+ post-covid. The WFH state of my jobs have also contributed, but I also changed jobs a few times as well.
I agree. We have 2 kids in preschool. This sounds right as a minimum. Getting to $175+ for household is a lot more comfortable. I'm sure $200 will be another jump. We do own a house though, so most savings needs are for retirement, buffer in case one of us loses a job, home improvement, and trips to see family and maybe a summer vacation.
I am usually underwater as a single dad of 2 with a cheap (2k) 2 bedroom apartment at 95k in south Arlington. For me to break even, I’d need about 10k more.
Yeah and I am 1/3 of a mile from their mom, who fortunately for her and my kids and unfortunately for me has a lot more to spend on a place and lifestyle. It lets me have my kids 50/50. I’m unfortunately in the cheapest place in a very expensive area but if I leave, things change. In a few years I’ll be able to move.
There are along the corridors in south Arlington that are growing but not along a metro. Mostly garden apartments. And I’ve been here for 10 years, so I haven’t seen the leap others have
I moved here 5 years ago with my wife and doggie making $60k and got a bump to $120k a year later. I can honestly say that at $120k, I felt the pressures alleviate in terms of affording to live and eat. I'm now at $210k and money isn't a problem anymore. To the folks who say money isn't happiness, it is. Living on $60k for two people/a dog in Nova was stressful but we made it work.
I wish more people would get away from saying 6 figures. A person making 100k and making 900k are living completely different lives. I think when you say 7 figures it’s more appropriate because a person making 1,000,000 and a person making 9,000,000 probably have a similar life.
To answer OP’s question 100k would be a good amount
Facts. Single. Felt comfortable below 70, and not to mention, in DC. But I guess everyone has a different definition of “feeling comfortable”. From the few and far conversations I’ve had with folks in the area, some consider “comfortable” what many would consider stacked 💵💵💵
Yeah, I am somewhat financially literate as well and doing what you mentioned. Was very possible on below 70, and moreso now.
Admittedly, I do not have a car note bc I rely on walking/cycling/public transportation. Nor school loans. And my housing situation is with roommates, but that’s just so I can save more and have more beer money, plus don’t really see the need in having a whole ass place to myself.. Could I swing it? Sure. But it just seems dumb to me atm. Maybe when I have a serious GF and a couple of kids I’ll consider it. But for now, very happy with my rent being only 20% of my income.
Any more questions?
Moved here at 60k in 2017 and the pressure was heavy. At 95k now and I don’t feel the pressure nearly as much, but I’m the type who enjoys saving every penny and so I still feel some pressure because I don’t save as much as some of the people I compare myself against. But as I understand it 120k is the sweet spot
I make 55k. Wife makes 20k. (She's a teacher).
We love in one bedroom. (One of the cheapest we could find) 2k a month in falls church.
We do alright. We eat out often, I buy weed consistently, we save, we travel 2/4 times a year. ( We don't have many friends so we save there by not going out a ton, but we still eat out a ton honestly)
We luckily only have 1 car payment cause we share one and my work gives me a vehicle. That's our only debt.
We aren't struggling. But we aren't thriving in this area.
I would say 100k is where you wanna be. Let's you get closer to affording a house.
Nothing exist for less than 500k for a house. Townhouses are starting around 350k and up.. it's insane. We are tryin to save up as much as we can for a down payment.
Ya I will say. We don't have any kind of insurance thou. Recently had a 100k hospital bill, reduced to 20k. Paid off like 18k in a year, and have about 30k saved for a down payment. Lease ends next march, tryin to find a townhouse in Fairfax county or around Chantilly, for under 450k and alot of luck with the market! But even that seems insane. Recently looked for houses and lenders were saying I could only afford around 320k with no down payment. Or small like 10k down. It's insane if you wanna own. And insane to rent out here. We have moved into smaller older apartments the last 2 years to stay under 2k. And we are tryin to budget eating out but we both love food and drinks lol. We spend around 1k a month eating out. It's alot.
She isn't in a public School. She teaches like 3-5 preschool age. And not a head teacher. So assistant. With some supplemental work on the side. (baby sitting or driving a kid home) but it's not much
If she wanted to get into public school, she could probably do it. My wife and I (age 33,30) make 165k combined as FCPS teachers. It’s worth it + great healthcare and a pension.
Due to life events, she just doesn't feel the joy she did with being around kids previously. She really enjoys the Montessori type preschools where your outside and in nature. Not so much the class rooms. It's really boring and unfulfilling for her ultimately. She was an au pair for 7 years then switched to teaching and it's just limited in where she can work I guess. Also I think public schools would require more schooling? I really dont know much about teaching at all lol. Just most her co-workers are older ladies with rich husbands. And I tell my wife all the time she fucked up and married me and not a rich husband lol, I'm only rich in my love for her. Which doesn't help with the bills unfortunately.
What is fcps? What's involved to get into that field more?
Right? $20k/year is like $10/hour if she's working 40 hours a week for all 52 weeks. Hopefully she makes at least Virginia minimum wage of $12/hour, but even that seems low for a teacher in this area.
Can't speak for those with families/partner/kids, but as a single person, I've been able to live fairly comfortably making 70k-75k. Only had a roommate when I lived on Eisenhower, but living in the Springfield area was, at least at the time, more affordable.
Of course, I prefer staying home rather than going out, so I wasn't too concerned about my entertainment budget being low.
Yeah, everyone’s situation is going to be vastly different depending on what debt you have and spending habits.
If you live like a hermit, who does nothing and have 0 debt then you’re good.
If you have kids/pets, car payments, eat/go out regularly, make weekly Amazon purchases to satisfy your urges for new hobbies, then you going to be complaining why it’s so expensive here.
I live alone and am single. pre-tax make 78k. rent is $1555 in Arlington. Water, gas, and utilities are covered under rent, so I just pay for internet. I have finally been able to get a stable job in my field, so there's hope for the future.
My car was totaled by a guy texting and driving, so I now have a car payment for a pre-owned basic corolla. Bills look like this:
Phone: $140
Insurance: $110 (car and rental)
Car payment: $250
Internet: $68
Student Loans: $200 (technically on hold for the moment)
Gas: $60-70 for the whole month. Fill once every 2 weeks. I have a long commute but need to live closer to family to help them out.
Groceries: $120 (my job provides lunch, which helps)
Cat food/supplies: $50 a month
=$2558 if gas is $65
Rough take home pay est for the whole month: $4575
This is post tax, hsa contribution, retirement. My job generously pays health insurance premiums and contributes some to my hsa monthly.
Left with $2017 a month based on basic bills that everyone generally has. I do not have additional income and do not receive additional money in any form, as in some people's parents or grandparents help them out, etc. My side hustles were shipt and Uber eats, but I was doing a delivery when the guy texting and driving blew through the red light, so I am hesitant to get that going again.
If you do not have bills beyond this, then imo it's not awful. Everyone's definition of comfortable is different. But also the above are on a sliding scale as some people may pay more for the above.
I personally have some hefty medical bills/debt that most people don't have that are anywhere from $400-800, so it's uncomfortable, but that doesn't apply to everyone. Whatever is leftover and goes to savings in a high yield account for emergencies and a regular account for any additional bills such as an oil change or vet appt. Etc. As well as going out which could be a concert, dinner with friends, something along those lines.
Hope this helps give a ballpark!
And before people come for me for not having roommates and not living somewhere more so in the suburbs, don't. There are thought-out reasons/situations for the living situation.
It's low because 1) it's very close to bailey's crossroads and falls church so definitely not in the heart of Arlington by clarendon or courthouse though it's like a 15 minute drive to either.
2) it is NOT a luxury apartment (technically it's a condo) by any means lol it's old and one of those with a bunch of street parking. The area itself isn't dangerous, just very transient if that makes sense. I got lucky since my apartment was mostly renovated but can't say the same about the rest. I was basically stalking trulia and zillow and this one popped up so I called asap. Realtor said I was lucky to call first b/c she got 10 calls within 30 minutes. Unless you can afford a luxury place it feels like being ready for open enrollment or buying Beyonce tickets to find a place 😅
I have been in the area for now 3 years and am holding onto the place since prices went up. I actually have a landlord with a soul and good moral compass so my rent has been raised just $60 a year to cover condo fees. But there has been some give and take. I asked to have the blinds replaced and he didn't want to take care of it so I replaced them along with some door knobs which were both taken into consideration when resigning 🤷♀️
Adding onto this, yes it is a one bedroom. AC window units, radiators and shared laundry if anyone is curious about amenities or lack thereof lol. Good thing about old places are thick walls. I never hear my neighbor's kids or the ones with a drum kit once I'm in my apartment.
Best reply in this thread.
Reasonable expectations for someone who has a moderate salary: living alone, but not in a fancy new building or on top of a metro stop. Has a car payment, but on a highly practical car, purchased used. A additional expense, which mirrors other additional expenses others may have (student loans, other debt, medical expenses, etc.)
”Comfortable “ is subjective. Your priorities and preferences are large factors when figuring out your personal number.
My comfort number changed over the years. I optimized on all fronts to achieve and maintain. Comfort is one of my priorities. I make choices and sacrifices that make my priorities possible.
Cost of living varies greatly depending on your lifestyle choices. The neighborhood you choose. Whether you have roommates. Kids. Dual income? Debt payments. The car you drive. Etc.
Your rent range is wide: $1950 +/- $550. One could save up a down payment more quickly if they have roommates and live outside the beltway. How important is saving?
You’re the best person that can figure out your comfortable number. This number changes over time so you’ll need to make some predictions.
Consider making a written priorities list along with a formal personal finance plan.
Yeah, you are going to have to give us more information. We don't know if your student loans are $5K or $175K. And putting a down payment on a home. Do you want a condo, single detached family home, town home, etc? We can't tell you anything without more numbers.
Also, keep in mind that us redditers have a huge range of incomes: from the Congressional aide making $40K to the TSP Millionaire who bought their home when they were cheap. So keep in mind that all of us will have our biases in money management.
This sub is hilarious. Just yesterday I got downvoted first mentioning that $120k doesn’t go that far here and now all the responses to this question are all “6 figures”
I think it depends on what other expenses you have. If you're single with no dependents or debt then 120k is good. If you have debt or a family then no 120k doesn't go very far.
120k single, no debt w/ a roommate or partner sharing rent and you're actually killing it in this area. That's like $7k take home per month. Rent should be under $1500 shared. There's a lot left over for food, other needs and then some.
That's the ideal situation for sure. Unfortunately many people either have debt or a family. Others don't have a partner and don't want to live with roomates anymore. It just depends on the situation I can say for me it got a lot easier when I paid off my student loans.
Idk it depends where specifically in Nova you are and what you consider a comfortable lifestyle.
I’m ten minutes south of Old Town Alexandria, in a decent little condo neighborhood. Total combined income for my household per year after tax is ~ $130k.
Our monthly rent for a nice 3bd condo is $2700. We are able to put around $2000pm into various savings accounts. We also support our 4 children comfortably (and able feed them decent food, groceries per month around $1500).
We don’t go out very much because a lot is expensive and much is far away especially when you have a large family so we spend much of our time at free parks and nature trails, but our day to day is a comfortable standard of living with some niceties and plenty of room to drop some cash into savings after bills and have wiggle room for incidental spending.
And even with kids it varies. If you have kids in daycare, it's gonna cost more than kids who have started school... Except maybe teens? They might cost a lot in extracurricular activities, clothes, wanting to go out with friends, etc.
200k for a married couple with kids. I just hit 115k as a teacher and when I moved to NOVA 7 years ago I was making 45K . I can have a decent car and rent a decent house but until my wife makes 100K I still need to count my pennies with two kids under 10.
imo happiness starts to set in around $120k-130k, as in you can basically afford to have a really nice place to live, a newish car, pay off debt, and be able to eat out, go to shows, or save.
$200k is borderline balling for the area for a single person. realistically a single person can live here for $3k a month, so if your monthly take home is at least double that, you're pretty comfortable.
the number i provided, 3k a month to live here, is a reasonable number and pretty normal. if you want to live in a 1BR or similar in a decent area you will pay about $2k in rent. If you want to live with roommates it's $1k in rent, but I'm assuming a solid quality of life. Obviously a car payment could be $200-400 and then utilities, phone, and maybe a student loan payment, $3k a month is nice estimate.
$3k a month x 2 is about $6k a month which is $72k a year after taxes. That means your pre-tax income should be about $110k a year.
Happiness is multiple things, it means having a decent life and not having to overly stress about the potential of money going out the window. An extra $10-20k in income will push to a level where you can meet all your basic needs of expense, have money to spend on enjoyable things in life or vacations, and still save money. These are essential for a good life in America today.
$120k today is the same as making $90k in 2010.
Sure it's possible with some discipline. Once you hit that $120k or so mark, you don't need to be as disciplined aka you have the freedom to do more of what you want.
But hey if you're so happy with that pay, I'm sure you'll have no issue making $68k and living alone for your entire life, all the best to you.
A vast majority of Americans live in lower cost of living areas than here.
Take-home pay should be three times your monthly rent/mortgage to escape struggle times. Four times is when saving and doing big things becomes easier.
So very much comes down to how much you pay in rent. It's more than the number, after all. If you live in a high-rent area, everything is going to be more expensive: Parking a car, getting groceries, going out to eat, entertainment. And rent varies a LOT, even within a town.
So, if you make around 100k, you can have a decent life in some cheaper parts of NOVA and struggle in the bougie parts. You'll get people who will look at you like you're insane, living somewhere uncool, but money struggles will grind you down so freaking fast.
No, the advice still works for new grads. They still have to eat, after all.
If you want to move to a better job market, you still have to look at the salaries in the area compared to the rent and make some tough decisions. If the rent is too high, can you afford to rent a room? Can you subsidize your income with a side-gig? Should you get on the waitlist for subsidized housing? Hell, is living out of a van reasonable?
Numbers don't lie, and they *will* screw you over if you think that you can beat them.
Living at 50% rent is possible *only in the short term*. It's extremely risky. You're one event away from disaster. A broken bone. Car going tits up. Rent skyrockets because the owner wants to make the units "luxury". Job loss. Hell, global events. For me, it was 9/11. For the new grads today? A little thing called COVID.
And I'm not someone who waltzed out of college making six figures. I was on the struggle bus for years. I had zero luxuries. If it wasn't free, I wasn't doing it. It only eased up *once the numbers worked*.
You weren't smart. You were lucky.
Teacher salary of 59 and I literally couldn’t survive here on my own without my partner making double what I make. I’d say 100k is necessary to be able to survive, have savings, and be able to enjoy a dinner or something fun here and there. Rent is just outrageous.
I make 90k. Live in North Arlington in a $1350 1br apartment in a low-rise in a very nice mostly suburban neighborhood. No dishwasher, and window instead of central AC, but I don't view those things as worth spending $300-500 a month extra. Have $300 a month debt payments on a personal loan from before I got the job, but no other debt. I travel a lot, weekend trips by car once or twice a month and fly somewhere every 3 months or so (though I sometimes leech off my parents' tremendous pile of accumulated Southwest points). I'm very, very comfortable and usually have at least $1000 a month to shovel into savings. I also have my 401k at 4% of my paycheck for employer matching.
I spent 2 years after college living in the mountains of California working seasonal ski industry jobs - insane hours at low wages - that added up to around 35-40k a year. Coming from that, I feel like a king.
300k minimum for family of four (aka, two kids). Otherwise, not doable IMO if you consider 1/ today’s mortgage rates and premium home prices, 2/ maxing retirement account contributions, 3/ having a hobby or two, 4/ taking a family vacation once a year, and 5/ saving towards your kids education and other milestones.
Out of the above five points, none of those is having an outlandish lifestyle, but critical for raising a family. With today’s COL, rates, and volatile markets, the $120-150k range in this thread are a bit low IMO.
I'm glad someone said it! We are around $250k combined, family of 4 and we're just making it. We have all of what you mentioned though. Then throw in kids activities and sport fees and then your expenses add up.
Congrats, earning $250k is a big achievement and hard work. Good call on the additional expense of kids activities and sports fees, especially if your kids are playing competitively. We aren’t even factoring in private school!
I was living with roomates until I made about 100k. I did have student loans though, so I guess it mainly depends on your expenses. Once I paid off the student loans it made things a lot more comfortable. I also lived near a metro and didn't have a car to cut back on expenses.
No offense, but we would benefit from a pause on these relentless "How much money to live in X city" questions. There is no answer. It requires a lot of personal knowledge and tailored research.
I would say 100k+ / single = youre living pretty comfortably. Then again I am staying with my cousin who is letting me stay at her place while shes in germany for barely 1.1k a month
Two kids in HS- college looming- late 40s, HHI 310k- close in SFH with 208K left on the note and I don't feel totally safe. I feel comfortable- I mean we have plenty of food and shelter but we aren't even close to retirement.
$50-60k if you have one or two roommates, but the most comfortable medium is 80-120k if you're single, or if you're dating/married and your partner also works (doesn't necessarily mean you have to make the same)
I mean my level of true comfort is going to differ from yours but I would say at least $80k if you don’t have kids. I don’t have kids so I really can’t speak to that side of things. But I think if you actually budget you’d be pretty okay with $80k. Obviously anything above that would be even better for having hobbies, traveling, and going out because you wouldn’t have to worry. Also rent is constantly climbing which is the big focus for salary and budgeting.
My partner and I stopped feeling pressure when we both hit above $90k and knowing our salary increase every year helps. But we also do our best to budget for a big trip or two every year because traveling makes us happy.
I am living alright at 64k in Alexandria. I started out at 35K a few years ago and was around 54k until earlier this year. With my partner our combined income is now 130K. We were able to get by with a lot less in the past but of course there's lifestyle creep and it would be extremely difficult to have to go back to our previous standard of living being used to the things we are now. We own a condo, have hobbies, go out to eat, etc.
Super dependent on person. Your definition of comfortable living is very different from mine! I have two roommates, who I enjoy living with, and I am very comfortable on 50k. I am not struggling for anything financially.
My husband and I live in Manassas and own a largish single family home for a combined income of about $150,000.
We make enough to be comfortable here, go one 1 vacation per year, do little outings on the weekends and more or less but what we need, although money is tight with inflation.
We have 1 child on the way, so I think that will significantly impact our “luxury “ but we should still be able to get by with basic needs.
Single? No children? I'd say low 6 figures, no outstanding debt (student loans, excess credit card debt).
Partnered? No debt? You can probably be comfortable around 60-70K so long as your combined income is above 100K.
Gonna be honest and say you won't be saving much for a down payment or putting away long term investments if you don't have much money left over to be earmarked at the end of the month. And to me, if you aren't building savings you shouldn't be considered living comfortably.
179k dual income living in Kingstowne. Comfortable right now but we have a baby on the way, so with daycare +student loan repayment starting soon, I think we're gonna need like 20k more to feel comfortable again :/ were saving up now but it's the daycare that's gonna kill our budget
If you want to "comfortably" afford 2k rent AND save for down payment AND have money for hobbies, then you need to make about 7k a month net. Which equates to about 120k-150k. It all depends on how much and how fast you want to save for the down payment.
Comfortable living probably starts around $100k if you’re single but the answer is very much dependent on your lifestyle.
I had a single co-worker making ~110k. He had a lot of credit card debt because he had an expensive vehicle, ate out a lot, lots of excursions and multiple nights clubbing at $100+ per night. But he wasn’t complaining and loved his life. Also, I had a single roommate who only made ~55k and was saving like a champ (ultimately to buy a house). I was floored by her discipline.
Well I got offered a job in Reston back in May (2023) and I moved down in early June. I am 35 year old single guy ( no wife or kids yet). I am from the Hampton Roads, area of Virginia and the job in Reston was a digital marketing coordinator role paying 57K a year.
Sadly, once I got in the area I quickly realized I was WELL below the salary average in NOVA and in Reston/ Herndon in particular. All the good apartments close to the job were like 1800-2K and up. So If I did pay that majority of my paycheck would be rent with little left for other bills ( student loans, car payment, cell phone bill) and food or savings. I looked at apartments further out 30-40 mins away from the job in like Alexandria and Arlington as well. I found cheaper apartments in those areas but ultimately thought it wasn’t worth the added commute time. Fairfax and Sterling were expensive as well. So even though I liked the job, I had to it resign after a month and move back to my area the start of this month ( July). The cost of living is insane in NOVA and again 57K is really tight.
Granted, I should have done more research but the job only gave me a month to relocate so it was tough. Lesson learned for sure.
Depends. With a spouse? With kids?
We’re just ‘doing okay’ on just over $200k with kids. However that means we’re driving 8+ year old cars that have been paid off, no vacations and we got a house we can afford however the public school is so bad most of us on our street pay for our kids to attend a private school of some sort. The rest of the families homeschool.
If the schools were actually decent we could get by with $6000 a month. That’s no frills living for a SFH. If you are renting only and no family taking home $70,000 would be fine. That would be no frills living further out west or in Arlington with roommates. Those I know that live alone pull in over $100k
Paying for private school is an extreme luxury in our area. You would probably be much better off using half your private school money to buy a house in a better school district, even though like others have said our worst schools are still better than most.
Do they have a lottery for better public schools? You have some good ones. But dang, with 200k why are you living there? The money you would save alone in school costs would easily make up for the added mortgage cost, which honestly between Arlington, Fairfax and Alexandria, do not seem to be all the different, right?
Oh, I’m not the original commenter so I have no idea where they live. But Alexandria has some REALLY nice neighborhoods where you need to clear well over 500k to live. It’s really only the schools are lacking there.
Private schools are really no better than public schools on average in Northern Virginia. So much comes down to the parenting and lessons learned at home. The services offered by our public schools are tremendous and the teachers are great.
I’m a teacher here in a lower rated public high school in FCPS and I’ve taught at top embassy schools around the world as well. The students have similar or better opportunities afforded to them for them. Tuition at one school I worked at was 36k/year to get an IB diploma. Students I teach at now can get an IB diploma for free. The issue is the other kids at times - and that is where parenting comes in to play.
NOVA public schools are about as good as you can get. NOVA as a region is an area where people are always trying to “get the best” to a fault. Be a good parent, teach good lessons at home- your kids will have excellent futures.
What? Even using $2500 as your upper estimate for rent 6 figures would not drain *half* of your monthly income on it.
You said memes aside, but other comments are not giving it to you straight regardless. Even with your strict definition of comfortable, I would say $60-90k. It depends on what neighborhood you want to live in of course but if you're single, you can live comfortably *somewhere* in nova on $60k. Don't listen to the jaded petit bourgeois on this sub.
My rent is $2550, I make just a hair over 6 figures, and it’s fairly difficult. Taking into consideration most people have other debts too. Utilities put my housing costs at around 55% of my take home. The hardest part was managing my daughters daycare at the same time. I don’t think $60K would be doable unless I was living in a shoebox with no bills or dependence
> while also being able to save up towards a down payment on a mortgage, pay off my student and auto loans
> you can live comfortably somewhere in nova on $60k
You can also pay your student and car loan payments and save for a down payment on a house while making $60K?
That's not at all true, especially if you live with someone else. I make 64K in Alexandria and get by alright. It's not perfect but I'm able to save, have hobbies, go out to eat, etc. My partner and I were able to buy a condo here when our combined income was around 100k but now we're at 130K. We lived in Arlington before this.
Your range for rent is absurdly large to the point where it distorts the salary range you're asking us to provide you. You wanna pay 1400? You can find studios around that price. You won't need more than 75k ish to reasonably afford that. 2500? Probably need 90k or more
That's what I thought too. Hence why I said 1400 would probably get you a studio to give OP a frame of reference. Not sure why this person got snarky for no reason lol
1400-2500 is a huge range for rent. I never would pay more than 2k for rent and even that’s high. And you shouldn’t pay more than 40% of your monthly take home pay on housing
Single life is easy man… Try raising a family here 😂
Born and raised in this area and I started out making $45k in the early 2000’s. $160k+ is where it stopped feeling like a pressure cooker.
Now. Have a comfortable life with a family? I’m assuming you need the ability to invest, 1-2 nice vacations for you and your crew, decent house as well as all the amenities? $300k+
Single without kids, $100k.
Once kids come into the picture, I think you need a dual income of around $400k to be comfortable. Summer camps are expensive and so are after school activities. Plus you'll want to live in an area with a good school pyramid
$400k is a very high threshold. The US contains over 3,100 counties and if you sort them by income, Loudoun and Falls Church stand at the very top. And their median household incomes are only around $150,000.
I suggest you check out this WaPo interactive to see what $400k actually looks like in your zip code: [https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/interactive/2023/middle-class-income/](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/interactive/2023/middle-class-income/)
The threshold from middle to upper household income in the DC area for a family of four is around $200k.
No doubt, kids are expensive. I have two myself and own a home. But you don't need a household income in the top 3% to be comfortable.
I appreciate your suggestion and the counties you cited. I live in a county with a higher median income according to google.
I don't know if basing comfort around the median income is the right approach. I'm sure if you asked a lot of those families if they were comfortable financially, you may get a lot of different responses.
I can say that while I am near the average median income, I still would not say I'm comfortable. Comfortable means a lot of different things to a lot of different people, so I can appreciate you thinking differently than me.
At the end of the day, for me to truly feel comfortable as the OP asked, I feel like 400k would put me there. Again, you may feel different and that's ok.
Sure, "comfortable" is a subjective term. It's fair to say you need at least $400k to get you there personally. I'm just defining "comfortable" as the opposite of "struggling" - as in you have enough money to pay the bills, feed your kids, have a place to live, have an emergency fund, can save for retirement, and don't stay up all night worrying about finances. I'm not defining it as having enough money to take extravagant vacations, buy a huge house in a hot neighborhood, drive new model luxury cars, own a yacht, and send 3 kids to private school. If you look at it through that lens, any financially responsible family in can feel very comfortable on much less than $400k/year.
235k but deeply in debt. Used to live above our means in order to give the kids a good life, now I can afford it and still paying off the past. 2-3 more years and I should be very comfortable.
I’ve lived here earning $45K -> $200K and I think I stopped feeling the pressure around $120K.
>I stopped feeling the pressure around $120K. Similar trajectory, and I'd agree, but primarily if you're single. $140k-$150k is when I stopped feeling the pressure with a wife and kid, single income household (post covid/WFH). Anything above that is where you can somewhat comfortably plan for savings, vacations, upgrades, etc.
We're around $138k, one income, soon to have our first baby. We feel very comfortable with this income, but we're also not obsessed with lifestyle creep.
I believe should be at least 200k
To clarify: we live in Manassas, so it's a little cheaper out here.
Unfortunately, it’s not cheaper by much. Then again, it depends if you live in: 1) Manassas, Prince William County, 2) City of Manassas 3) Downtown Manassas 4) City of Manassas Park. Then, if you have children, you have to worry about the school districts in each of the different Manassas
Our address is technically in the historic district, although we're not REALLY there. We're about 5 minutes out. ETA: We recently moved from Tacoma, WA. So while the housing market is pretty much the same as there, everything else is MILES cheaper. So our $138k stretches way farther here than it did there.
IIRC in a history of Manassas from the history channel late night docu series, “Small Towns Where it Depends” when referring to more than one Manassas you would call it MENasses. You change the first and last a’s to e’s and stylistically interchange the accent over the middle syllable for a more striking first syllable accent; and finally-the last s is silent. As in most things ridiculous, you can thank the French for their popular influence at the time in our own search for a national identity.
Good to know because my bf and I said we don’t want to start trying until we’re at 180k
I'd say this is fair. similar situation, although only comfortable with a sub 3% mortgage lol I'm around 220k and feel comfortable, but still requires diligent balance sheet work to hit savings targets. It's certainly not the 'rich' lifestyle I would have imagined at this income, but I feel fortunate to no longer need to estimate my grocery bills while shopping like I did back at 60k when I moved to the area.
Is that pre covid inflation?
I would say post. I was making $120k pre-covid, and $140k+ post-covid. The WFH state of my jobs have also contributed, but I also changed jobs a few times as well.
I agree. We have 2 kids in preschool. This sounds right as a minimum. Getting to $175+ for household is a lot more comfortable. I'm sure $200 will be another jump. We do own a house though, so most savings needs are for retirement, buffer in case one of us loses a job, home improvement, and trips to see family and maybe a summer vacation.
The present-day equivalent to the time you were making $120k is probably more like $160k.
That’s a good point, what year was it u/recreationaldrowning?
I am single- I was making $45K in 2013, $80K in 2018, $110K in 2020, $175K in 2021 and on track to hit around $220K this year if I perform.
What do you sell?
What do you do for a living if I ask?
Sell stuff 🤝
Smart
You'll hit it. Nobody drowns like you do.
Sounds like me lol underpaid every step of the way but gotta keep moving.
Can also confirm I have gone from $55k to $120k and I stopped feeling it around $110k or so.
What do you do for a living?
I'm in systems engineering. I deal mostly with cloud systems. The salary range has taken me 3 years so it's not immediate, but doable definitely.
Even then 3 years is a really short amount of time to reach six figures. Many fields take at least 2.5 times longer than that.
It took me 12 years and an MBA to make six figures in this area. 😅
Stay in SE and you will surpass 200k
Thank you. I used to be a technical editor/writer And what systems engineers do is amazing.
Making $110k and single. There is still some pressure but I feel the next jump will get me out of the loop
Same. When I got up to $105k, I felt comfortable.
I am usually underwater as a single dad of 2 with a cheap (2k) 2 bedroom apartment at 95k in south Arlington. For me to break even, I’d need about 10k more.
Sheesh. Hang in there, man. I'm sure your two kids appreciate all you do for them, whether they see and know it or not.
I feel this. Desperately want to move somewhere cheaper but nowadays it costs so much just to move.
Yeah and I am 1/3 of a mile from their mom, who fortunately for her and my kids and unfortunately for me has a lot more to spend on a place and lifestyle. It lets me have my kids 50/50. I’m unfortunately in the cheapest place in a very expensive area but if I leave, things change. In a few years I’ll be able to move.
I didn't know there are apartments as low as 2k that are not a studio in Arlington. Hope you get a raise brother.
There are along the corridors in south Arlington that are growing but not along a metro. Mostly garden apartments. And I’ve been here for 10 years, so I haven’t seen the leap others have
I have a 1br in the 1300s in *North* Arlington. No dishwasher, window AC, basic but gets the job done.
That’s an $1100 spread on rent, the related salary range would vary a lot with that
I moved here 5 years ago with my wife and doggie making $60k and got a bump to $120k a year later. I can honestly say that at $120k, I felt the pressures alleviate in terms of affording to live and eat. I'm now at $210k and money isn't a problem anymore. To the folks who say money isn't happiness, it is. Living on $60k for two people/a dog in Nova was stressful but we made it work.
Did you switch jobs or get promoted at the current role?
I switched roles at the same company and have gotten promotions.
can you please tell me what company is this and what is your role?
Ohh good to know! That’s awesome!
6 figures. Young money.
A milli a milli a milli a mil-a mil-a mil-a milli
Ok you’re a goon, but what’s a goon to a goblin?
Real Gs move in silence like lasagna
Call me what you want bitch, call me on my sidekick
This made my day!
on some fgt bulshiz call em dennis rodman
Yuuung money
I wish more people would get away from saying 6 figures. A person making 100k and making 900k are living completely different lives. I think when you say 7 figures it’s more appropriate because a person making 1,000,000 and a person making 9,000,000 probably have a similar life. To answer OP’s question 100k would be a good amount
Unexpected weezy
Yeah 100k+ to be in a comfortable range. Below 70k and you're starting to be tight on money with the cost of living now.
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Facts. Single. Felt comfortable below 70, and not to mention, in DC. But I guess everyone has a different definition of “feeling comfortable”. From the few and far conversations I’ve had with folks in the area, some consider “comfortable” what many would consider stacked 💵💵💵
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Yeah, I am somewhat financially literate as well and doing what you mentioned. Was very possible on below 70, and moreso now. Admittedly, I do not have a car note bc I rely on walking/cycling/public transportation. Nor school loans. And my housing situation is with roommates, but that’s just so I can save more and have more beer money, plus don’t really see the need in having a whole ass place to myself.. Could I swing it? Sure. But it just seems dumb to me atm. Maybe when I have a serious GF and a couple of kids I’ll consider it. But for now, very happy with my rent being only 20% of my income. Any more questions?
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Lmao
Moved here at 60k in 2017 and the pressure was heavy. At 95k now and I don’t feel the pressure nearly as much, but I’m the type who enjoys saving every penny and so I still feel some pressure because I don’t save as much as some of the people I compare myself against. But as I understand it 120k is the sweet spot
I make 55k. Wife makes 20k. (She's a teacher). We love in one bedroom. (One of the cheapest we could find) 2k a month in falls church. We do alright. We eat out often, I buy weed consistently, we save, we travel 2/4 times a year. ( We don't have many friends so we save there by not going out a ton, but we still eat out a ton honestly) We luckily only have 1 car payment cause we share one and my work gives me a vehicle. That's our only debt. We aren't struggling. But we aren't thriving in this area. I would say 100k is where you wanna be. Let's you get closer to affording a house. Nothing exist for less than 500k for a house. Townhouses are starting around 350k and up.. it's insane. We are tryin to save up as much as we can for a down payment.
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Ya I will say. We don't have any kind of insurance thou. Recently had a 100k hospital bill, reduced to 20k. Paid off like 18k in a year, and have about 30k saved for a down payment. Lease ends next march, tryin to find a townhouse in Fairfax county or around Chantilly, for under 450k and alot of luck with the market! But even that seems insane. Recently looked for houses and lenders were saying I could only afford around 320k with no down payment. Or small like 10k down. It's insane if you wanna own. And insane to rent out here. We have moved into smaller older apartments the last 2 years to stay under 2k. And we are tryin to budget eating out but we both love food and drinks lol. We spend around 1k a month eating out. It's alot.
Where in this area is a teacher making 20k?!?! That’s below the national average isn’t it?
She isn't in a public School. She teaches like 3-5 preschool age. And not a head teacher. So assistant. With some supplemental work on the side. (baby sitting or driving a kid home) but it's not much
If she wanted to get into public school, she could probably do it. My wife and I (age 33,30) make 165k combined as FCPS teachers. It’s worth it + great healthcare and a pension.
Due to life events, she just doesn't feel the joy she did with being around kids previously. She really enjoys the Montessori type preschools where your outside and in nature. Not so much the class rooms. It's really boring and unfulfilling for her ultimately. She was an au pair for 7 years then switched to teaching and it's just limited in where she can work I guess. Also I think public schools would require more schooling? I really dont know much about teaching at all lol. Just most her co-workers are older ladies with rich husbands. And I tell my wife all the time she fucked up and married me and not a rich husband lol, I'm only rich in my love for her. Which doesn't help with the bills unfortunately. What is fcps? What's involved to get into that field more?
> fcps [https://www.fcps.edu/careers](https://www.fcps.edu/careers)
Right? $20k/year is like $10/hour if she's working 40 hours a week for all 52 weeks. Hopefully she makes at least Virginia minimum wage of $12/hour, but even that seems low for a teacher in this area.
Can't speak for those with families/partner/kids, but as a single person, I've been able to live fairly comfortably making 70k-75k. Only had a roommate when I lived on Eisenhower, but living in the Springfield area was, at least at the time, more affordable. Of course, I prefer staying home rather than going out, so I wasn't too concerned about my entertainment budget being low.
Doubling down on that. Springfield (specifically west springfield, Burke area) is really affordable.
No students loans or car payment, single you can easily get by 60k. Got all of the above? Life might suck for you making 60k
Yeah, everyone’s situation is going to be vastly different depending on what debt you have and spending habits. If you live like a hermit, who does nothing and have 0 debt then you’re good. If you have kids/pets, car payments, eat/go out regularly, make weekly Amazon purchases to satisfy your urges for new hobbies, then you going to be complaining why it’s so expensive here.
You would need to live further west to make it with less than six figures…that or you have a roommate which obviously works too.
You could go east the same distance and afford a whole house on a quarter acre but you won't be in nova.
Where are houses that cheap in MD within metro distance of DC?
My dad makes about 70k and we live around manassss. But we were able to get house for 250k a while ago. Super fortunate
I live alone and am single. pre-tax make 78k. rent is $1555 in Arlington. Water, gas, and utilities are covered under rent, so I just pay for internet. I have finally been able to get a stable job in my field, so there's hope for the future. My car was totaled by a guy texting and driving, so I now have a car payment for a pre-owned basic corolla. Bills look like this: Phone: $140 Insurance: $110 (car and rental) Car payment: $250 Internet: $68 Student Loans: $200 (technically on hold for the moment) Gas: $60-70 for the whole month. Fill once every 2 weeks. I have a long commute but need to live closer to family to help them out. Groceries: $120 (my job provides lunch, which helps) Cat food/supplies: $50 a month =$2558 if gas is $65 Rough take home pay est for the whole month: $4575 This is post tax, hsa contribution, retirement. My job generously pays health insurance premiums and contributes some to my hsa monthly. Left with $2017 a month based on basic bills that everyone generally has. I do not have additional income and do not receive additional money in any form, as in some people's parents or grandparents help them out, etc. My side hustles were shipt and Uber eats, but I was doing a delivery when the guy texting and driving blew through the red light, so I am hesitant to get that going again. If you do not have bills beyond this, then imo it's not awful. Everyone's definition of comfortable is different. But also the above are on a sliding scale as some people may pay more for the above. I personally have some hefty medical bills/debt that most people don't have that are anywhere from $400-800, so it's uncomfortable, but that doesn't apply to everyone. Whatever is leftover and goes to savings in a high yield account for emergencies and a regular account for any additional bills such as an oil change or vet appt. Etc. As well as going out which could be a concert, dinner with friends, something along those lines. Hope this helps give a ballpark! And before people come for me for not having roommates and not living somewhere more so in the suburbs, don't. There are thought-out reasons/situations for the living situation.
Where in Arlington? That’s a remarkably low rent. Is it a one Bedroom?
It's low because 1) it's very close to bailey's crossroads and falls church so definitely not in the heart of Arlington by clarendon or courthouse though it's like a 15 minute drive to either. 2) it is NOT a luxury apartment (technically it's a condo) by any means lol it's old and one of those with a bunch of street parking. The area itself isn't dangerous, just very transient if that makes sense. I got lucky since my apartment was mostly renovated but can't say the same about the rest. I was basically stalking trulia and zillow and this one popped up so I called asap. Realtor said I was lucky to call first b/c she got 10 calls within 30 minutes. Unless you can afford a luxury place it feels like being ready for open enrollment or buying Beyonce tickets to find a place 😅 I have been in the area for now 3 years and am holding onto the place since prices went up. I actually have a landlord with a soul and good moral compass so my rent has been raised just $60 a year to cover condo fees. But there has been some give and take. I asked to have the blinds replaced and he didn't want to take care of it so I replaced them along with some door knobs which were both taken into consideration when resigning 🤷♀️
Adding onto this, yes it is a one bedroom. AC window units, radiators and shared laundry if anyone is curious about amenities or lack thereof lol. Good thing about old places are thick walls. I never hear my neighbor's kids or the ones with a drum kit once I'm in my apartment.
Best reply in this thread. Reasonable expectations for someone who has a moderate salary: living alone, but not in a fancy new building or on top of a metro stop. Has a car payment, but on a highly practical car, purchased used. A additional expense, which mirrors other additional expenses others may have (student loans, other debt, medical expenses, etc.)
”Comfortable “ is subjective. Your priorities and preferences are large factors when figuring out your personal number. My comfort number changed over the years. I optimized on all fronts to achieve and maintain. Comfort is one of my priorities. I make choices and sacrifices that make my priorities possible. Cost of living varies greatly depending on your lifestyle choices. The neighborhood you choose. Whether you have roommates. Kids. Dual income? Debt payments. The car you drive. Etc. Your rent range is wide: $1950 +/- $550. One could save up a down payment more quickly if they have roommates and live outside the beltway. How important is saving? You’re the best person that can figure out your comfortable number. This number changes over time so you’ll need to make some predictions. Consider making a written priorities list along with a formal personal finance plan.
Yeah, you are going to have to give us more information. We don't know if your student loans are $5K or $175K. And putting a down payment on a home. Do you want a condo, single detached family home, town home, etc? We can't tell you anything without more numbers. Also, keep in mind that us redditers have a huge range of incomes: from the Congressional aide making $40K to the TSP Millionaire who bought their home when they were cheap. So keep in mind that all of us will have our biases in money management.
This sub is hilarious. Just yesterday I got downvoted first mentioning that $120k doesn’t go that far here and now all the responses to this question are all “6 figures”
I think it depends on what other expenses you have. If you're single with no dependents or debt then 120k is good. If you have debt or a family then no 120k doesn't go very far.
120k single, no debt w/ a roommate or partner sharing rent and you're actually killing it in this area. That's like $7k take home per month. Rent should be under $1500 shared. There's a lot left over for food, other needs and then some.
That's the ideal situation for sure. Unfortunately many people either have debt or a family. Others don't have a partner and don't want to live with roomates anymore. It just depends on the situation I can say for me it got a lot easier when I paid off my student loans.
I'm not seeing the irony.
Wait until they learn kids and a house push you into the $350k range.
Especially when the floor for buying a SF house is 750-800 around here lol
But…they aren’t all 6 figures. Sub is hilarious but so are you?
Idk it depends where specifically in Nova you are and what you consider a comfortable lifestyle. I’m ten minutes south of Old Town Alexandria, in a decent little condo neighborhood. Total combined income for my household per year after tax is ~ $130k. Our monthly rent for a nice 3bd condo is $2700. We are able to put around $2000pm into various savings accounts. We also support our 4 children comfortably (and able feed them decent food, groceries per month around $1500). We don’t go out very much because a lot is expensive and much is far away especially when you have a large family so we spend much of our time at free parks and nature trails, but our day to day is a comfortable standard of living with some niceties and plenty of room to drop some cash into savings after bills and have wiggle room for incidental spending.
And even with kids it varies. If you have kids in daycare, it's gonna cost more than kids who have started school... Except maybe teens? They might cost a lot in extracurricular activities, clothes, wanting to go out with friends, etc.
Yea this is true. All my kids are in school so daycare isn’t a consideration for us
200k for a married couple with kids. I just hit 115k as a teacher and when I moved to NOVA 7 years ago I was making 45K . I can have a decent car and rent a decent house but until my wife makes 100K I still need to count my pennies with two kids under 10.
Y’all love to spend money
Moving here from New England 6 years ago, I felt like I couldn't leave the house here without spending $40 and now that's $60.
In DC it’s $100 😂
imo happiness starts to set in around $120k-130k, as in you can basically afford to have a really nice place to live, a newish car, pay off debt, and be able to eat out, go to shows, or save. $200k is borderline balling for the area for a single person. realistically a single person can live here for $3k a month, so if your monthly take home is at least double that, you're pretty comfortable.
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the number i provided, 3k a month to live here, is a reasonable number and pretty normal. if you want to live in a 1BR or similar in a decent area you will pay about $2k in rent. If you want to live with roommates it's $1k in rent, but I'm assuming a solid quality of life. Obviously a car payment could be $200-400 and then utilities, phone, and maybe a student loan payment, $3k a month is nice estimate. $3k a month x 2 is about $6k a month which is $72k a year after taxes. That means your pre-tax income should be about $110k a year. Happiness is multiple things, it means having a decent life and not having to overly stress about the potential of money going out the window. An extra $10-20k in income will push to a level where you can meet all your basic needs of expense, have money to spend on enjoyable things in life or vacations, and still save money. These are essential for a good life in America today. $120k today is the same as making $90k in 2010.
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Sure it's possible with some discipline. Once you hit that $120k or so mark, you don't need to be as disciplined aka you have the freedom to do more of what you want. But hey if you're so happy with that pay, I'm sure you'll have no issue making $68k and living alone for your entire life, all the best to you. A vast majority of Americans live in lower cost of living areas than here.
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This, and your downvoting of my opinion tells me that there's little value you have to offer.
Take-home pay should be three times your monthly rent/mortgage to escape struggle times. Four times is when saving and doing big things becomes easier. So very much comes down to how much you pay in rent. It's more than the number, after all. If you live in a high-rent area, everything is going to be more expensive: Parking a car, getting groceries, going out to eat, entertainment. And rent varies a LOT, even within a town. So, if you make around 100k, you can have a decent life in some cheaper parts of NOVA and struggle in the bougie parts. You'll get people who will look at you like you're insane, living somewhere uncool, but money struggles will grind you down so freaking fast.
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No, the advice still works for new grads. They still have to eat, after all. If you want to move to a better job market, you still have to look at the salaries in the area compared to the rent and make some tough decisions. If the rent is too high, can you afford to rent a room? Can you subsidize your income with a side-gig? Should you get on the waitlist for subsidized housing? Hell, is living out of a van reasonable? Numbers don't lie, and they *will* screw you over if you think that you can beat them.
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Living at 50% rent is possible *only in the short term*. It's extremely risky. You're one event away from disaster. A broken bone. Car going tits up. Rent skyrockets because the owner wants to make the units "luxury". Job loss. Hell, global events. For me, it was 9/11. For the new grads today? A little thing called COVID. And I'm not someone who waltzed out of college making six figures. I was on the struggle bus for years. I had zero luxuries. If it wasn't free, I wasn't doing it. It only eased up *once the numbers worked*. You weren't smart. You were lucky.
Teacher salary of 59 and I literally couldn’t survive here on my own without my partner making double what I make. I’d say 100k is necessary to be able to survive, have savings, and be able to enjoy a dinner or something fun here and there. Rent is just outrageous.
I make 90k. Live in North Arlington in a $1350 1br apartment in a low-rise in a very nice mostly suburban neighborhood. No dishwasher, and window instead of central AC, but I don't view those things as worth spending $300-500 a month extra. Have $300 a month debt payments on a personal loan from before I got the job, but no other debt. I travel a lot, weekend trips by car once or twice a month and fly somewhere every 3 months or so (though I sometimes leech off my parents' tremendous pile of accumulated Southwest points). I'm very, very comfortable and usually have at least $1000 a month to shovel into savings. I also have my 401k at 4% of my paycheck for employer matching. I spent 2 years after college living in the mountains of California working seasonal ski industry jobs - insane hours at low wages - that added up to around 35-40k a year. Coming from that, I feel like a king.
300k minimum for family of four (aka, two kids). Otherwise, not doable IMO if you consider 1/ today’s mortgage rates and premium home prices, 2/ maxing retirement account contributions, 3/ having a hobby or two, 4/ taking a family vacation once a year, and 5/ saving towards your kids education and other milestones. Out of the above five points, none of those is having an outlandish lifestyle, but critical for raising a family. With today’s COL, rates, and volatile markets, the $120-150k range in this thread are a bit low IMO.
I'm glad someone said it! We are around $250k combined, family of 4 and we're just making it. We have all of what you mentioned though. Then throw in kids activities and sport fees and then your expenses add up.
Congrats, earning $250k is a big achievement and hard work. Good call on the additional expense of kids activities and sports fees, especially if your kids are playing competitively. We aren’t even factoring in private school!
I was living with roomates until I made about 100k. I did have student loans though, so I guess it mainly depends on your expenses. Once I paid off the student loans it made things a lot more comfortable. I also lived near a metro and didn't have a car to cut back on expenses.
No offense, but we would benefit from a pause on these relentless "How much money to live in X city" questions. There is no answer. It requires a lot of personal knowledge and tailored research.
Hard agree.
I would say 100k+ / single = youre living pretty comfortably. Then again I am staying with my cousin who is letting me stay at her place while shes in germany for barely 1.1k a month
Two kids in HS- college looming- late 40s, HHI 310k- close in SFH with 208K left on the note and I don't feel totally safe. I feel comfortable- I mean we have plenty of food and shelter but we aren't even close to retirement.
$50-60k if you have one or two roommates, but the most comfortable medium is 80-120k if you're single, or if you're dating/married and your partner also works (doesn't necessarily mean you have to make the same)
I mean my level of true comfort is going to differ from yours but I would say at least $80k if you don’t have kids. I don’t have kids so I really can’t speak to that side of things. But I think if you actually budget you’d be pretty okay with $80k. Obviously anything above that would be even better for having hobbies, traveling, and going out because you wouldn’t have to worry. Also rent is constantly climbing which is the big focus for salary and budgeting. My partner and I stopped feeling pressure when we both hit above $90k and knowing our salary increase every year helps. But we also do our best to budget for a big trip or two every year because traveling makes us happy.
I think you can live comfortable starting $70k with roommate, If you wanna live alone and be comfortable, $90k+ I'd say
I am living alright at 64k in Alexandria. I started out at 35K a few years ago and was around 54k until earlier this year. With my partner our combined income is now 130K. We were able to get by with a lot less in the past but of course there's lifestyle creep and it would be extremely difficult to have to go back to our previous standard of living being used to the things we are now. We own a condo, have hobbies, go out to eat, etc.
Super dependent on person. Your definition of comfortable living is very different from mine! I have two roommates, who I enjoy living with, and I am very comfortable on 50k. I am not struggling for anything financially.
My husband and I live in Manassas and own a largish single family home for a combined income of about $150,000. We make enough to be comfortable here, go one 1 vacation per year, do little outings on the weekends and more or less but what we need, although money is tight with inflation. We have 1 child on the way, so I think that will significantly impact our “luxury “ but we should still be able to get by with basic needs.
Single? No children? I'd say low 6 figures, no outstanding debt (student loans, excess credit card debt). Partnered? No debt? You can probably be comfortable around 60-70K so long as your combined income is above 100K. Gonna be honest and say you won't be saving much for a down payment or putting away long term investments if you don't have much money left over to be earmarked at the end of the month. And to me, if you aren't building savings you shouldn't be considered living comfortably.
179k dual income living in Kingstowne. Comfortable right now but we have a baby on the way, so with daycare +student loan repayment starting soon, I think we're gonna need like 20k more to feel comfortable again :/ were saving up now but it's the daycare that's gonna kill our budget
If you want to "comfortably" afford 2k rent AND save for down payment AND have money for hobbies, then you need to make about 7k a month net. Which equates to about 120k-150k. It all depends on how much and how fast you want to save for the down payment.
Comfortable living probably starts around $100k if you’re single but the answer is very much dependent on your lifestyle. I had a single co-worker making ~110k. He had a lot of credit card debt because he had an expensive vehicle, ate out a lot, lots of excursions and multiple nights clubbing at $100+ per night. But he wasn’t complaining and loved his life. Also, I had a single roommate who only made ~55k and was saving like a champ (ultimately to buy a house). I was floored by her discipline.
The replies here show me that lifestyle creep hit me harder than I wanted it to before moving to the area.
I'm single and I had disposable income by the time I hit around 130k
Well I got offered a job in Reston back in May (2023) and I moved down in early June. I am 35 year old single guy ( no wife or kids yet). I am from the Hampton Roads, area of Virginia and the job in Reston was a digital marketing coordinator role paying 57K a year. Sadly, once I got in the area I quickly realized I was WELL below the salary average in NOVA and in Reston/ Herndon in particular. All the good apartments close to the job were like 1800-2K and up. So If I did pay that majority of my paycheck would be rent with little left for other bills ( student loans, car payment, cell phone bill) and food or savings. I looked at apartments further out 30-40 mins away from the job in like Alexandria and Arlington as well. I found cheaper apartments in those areas but ultimately thought it wasn’t worth the added commute time. Fairfax and Sterling were expensive as well. So even though I liked the job, I had to it resign after a month and move back to my area the start of this month ( July). The cost of living is insane in NOVA and again 57K is really tight. Granted, I should have done more research but the job only gave me a month to relocate so it was tough. Lesson learned for sure.
Depends. With a spouse? With kids? We’re just ‘doing okay’ on just over $200k with kids. However that means we’re driving 8+ year old cars that have been paid off, no vacations and we got a house we can afford however the public school is so bad most of us on our street pay for our kids to attend a private school of some sort. The rest of the families homeschool. If the schools were actually decent we could get by with $6000 a month. That’s no frills living for a SFH. If you are renting only and no family taking home $70,000 would be fine. That would be no frills living further out west or in Arlington with roommates. Those I know that live alone pull in over $100k
Paying for private school is an extreme luxury in our area. You would probably be much better off using half your private school money to buy a house in a better school district, even though like others have said our worst schools are still better than most.
Yeah I find it kind of a weird comment too. This isn't Florida, public schools in NoVA are generally considered quite good.
Where are the public schools so bad?
City of Alexandria
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Where the heck do the public schools suck in nova? I have all sorts of gripes about the Arlington system, but it still blows away most of the country.
City of Alexandria
Do they have a lottery for better public schools? You have some good ones. But dang, with 200k why are you living there? The money you would save alone in school costs would easily make up for the added mortgage cost, which honestly between Arlington, Fairfax and Alexandria, do not seem to be all the different, right?
Oh, I’m not the original commenter so I have no idea where they live. But Alexandria has some REALLY nice neighborhoods where you need to clear well over 500k to live. It’s really only the schools are lacking there.
Moving to the area soon with kids, so I’m curious. Where do you live that you wouldn’t recommend the schools? Which neighborhood and which school (s)?
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Private schools are really no better than public schools on average in Northern Virginia. So much comes down to the parenting and lessons learned at home. The services offered by our public schools are tremendous and the teachers are great. I’m a teacher here in a lower rated public high school in FCPS and I’ve taught at top embassy schools around the world as well. The students have similar or better opportunities afforded to them for them. Tuition at one school I worked at was 36k/year to get an IB diploma. Students I teach at now can get an IB diploma for free. The issue is the other kids at times - and that is where parenting comes in to play. NOVA public schools are about as good as you can get. NOVA as a region is an area where people are always trying to “get the best” to a fault. Be a good parent, teach good lessons at home- your kids will have excellent futures.
$85k or so
What? Even using $2500 as your upper estimate for rent 6 figures would not drain *half* of your monthly income on it. You said memes aside, but other comments are not giving it to you straight regardless. Even with your strict definition of comfortable, I would say $60-90k. It depends on what neighborhood you want to live in of course but if you're single, you can live comfortably *somewhere* in nova on $60k. Don't listen to the jaded petit bourgeois on this sub.
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I lived here for two years making 40k in Arlington. People on this sub just can’t budget apparently
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My rent is $2550, I make just a hair over 6 figures, and it’s fairly difficult. Taking into consideration most people have other debts too. Utilities put my housing costs at around 55% of my take home. The hardest part was managing my daughters daycare at the same time. I don’t think $60K would be doable unless I was living in a shoebox with no bills or dependence
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Im a single dad with 2 kids, in the cheapest/best 1970s 3bdr townhome I could afford in Burke. Far cry from “extreme luxury” 😂😂
> while also being able to save up towards a down payment on a mortgage, pay off my student and auto loans > you can live comfortably somewhere in nova on $60k You can also pay your student and car loan payments and save for a down payment on a house while making $60K?
They're probably assuming after deductions.... so, full contribution to IRA/401k, etc. etc.
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That's not at all true, especially if you live with someone else. I make 64K in Alexandria and get by alright. It's not perfect but I'm able to save, have hobbies, go out to eat, etc. My partner and I were able to buy a condo here when our combined income was around 100k but now we're at 130K. We lived in Arlington before this.
precovid prob 80k. Post covid 120k as a single.
Your range for rent is absurdly large to the point where it distorts the salary range you're asking us to provide you. You wanna pay 1400? You can find studios around that price. You won't need more than 75k ish to reasonably afford that. 2500? Probably need 90k or more
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They said 'for a single bedroom', I took that to mean, 'a 1-bedroom (single bedroom) apartment'
That's what I thought too. Hence why I said 1400 would probably get you a studio to give OP a frame of reference. Not sure why this person got snarky for no reason lol
I read perfectly fine, thanks. 2500 for a bedroom? Lol. I'm questioning his entire post.
1400-2500 is a huge range for rent. I never would pay more than 2k for rent and even that’s high. And you shouldn’t pay more than 40% of your monthly take home pay on housing
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I’m paying under 2k in a very safe area of old town Alexandria
Lmao I pay under $2k for a 1-bedroom apartment in Vienna😂 you’re too funny
How recently did you sign that lease? Probably not going to find prices like that in Vienna anymore if I had to guess
Signed it in February of this year
Single life is easy man… Try raising a family here 😂 Born and raised in this area and I started out making $45k in the early 2000’s. $160k+ is where it stopped feeling like a pressure cooker. Now. Have a comfortable life with a family? I’m assuming you need the ability to invest, 1-2 nice vacations for you and your crew, decent house as well as all the amenities? $300k+
$200k is paycheck-to-paycheck for a family with 2 kids with mortgage and two cars. Single - you can live on a lot less.
Single without kids, $100k. Once kids come into the picture, I think you need a dual income of around $400k to be comfortable. Summer camps are expensive and so are after school activities. Plus you'll want to live in an area with a good school pyramid
$400k is a very high threshold. The US contains over 3,100 counties and if you sort them by income, Loudoun and Falls Church stand at the very top. And their median household incomes are only around $150,000. I suggest you check out this WaPo interactive to see what $400k actually looks like in your zip code: [https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/interactive/2023/middle-class-income/](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/interactive/2023/middle-class-income/) The threshold from middle to upper household income in the DC area for a family of four is around $200k. No doubt, kids are expensive. I have two myself and own a home. But you don't need a household income in the top 3% to be comfortable.
This is an excellent tool and I was unaware of it. Thanks!
I appreciate your suggestion and the counties you cited. I live in a county with a higher median income according to google. I don't know if basing comfort around the median income is the right approach. I'm sure if you asked a lot of those families if they were comfortable financially, you may get a lot of different responses. I can say that while I am near the average median income, I still would not say I'm comfortable. Comfortable means a lot of different things to a lot of different people, so I can appreciate you thinking differently than me. At the end of the day, for me to truly feel comfortable as the OP asked, I feel like 400k would put me there. Again, you may feel different and that's ok.
Sure, "comfortable" is a subjective term. It's fair to say you need at least $400k to get you there personally. I'm just defining "comfortable" as the opposite of "struggling" - as in you have enough money to pay the bills, feed your kids, have a place to live, have an emergency fund, can save for retirement, and don't stay up all night worrying about finances. I'm not defining it as having enough money to take extravagant vacations, buy a huge house in a hot neighborhood, drive new model luxury cars, own a yacht, and send 3 kids to private school. If you look at it through that lens, any financially responsible family in can feel very comfortable on much less than $400k/year.
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Explain.
About $200K
I figure I can live on a ~$1800 rent.
qb as
For the living style you describe, I'd say start at $135k+
235k but deeply in debt. Used to live above our means in order to give the kids a good life, now I can afford it and still paying off the past. 2-3 more years and I should be very comfortable.