How Much You Need to Make to Live “Comfortably” in Your Favorite City

People who travel sometimes discover that the place they love to visit might be a location where they’d like to live. It could be because of the weather. Opportunities for people to see or things to do. Perhaps the social atmosphere in that place is more in sync with things you feel strongly about.

Of course, different areas of the country have their own plusses and minuses when it comes to finances. Taxes will vary. So will the cost of food, transportation and other things people need to live. Housing costs can be much higher or lower than where you are now. And, of course, depending on your situation, your pay scale may or may not be different if you relocate. (Case in point: when Joe and I planned our moved from the northeast to Central Florida, we knew I would be taking a 30% pay cut. However his salary remained the same. That being said, we were also aware that the cost of living in Central Florida was going to be less than what we were used to in NY/NJ.)SmartAsset is a financial technology company. Founded in July 2012  and headquartered in New York City, the company publishes articles, guides, reviews, calculators and tools to help people make decisions about personal finance.

A couple of weeks ago, SmartAsset posted a study about the “Salary Needed to Live Comfortably” in multiple American cities. I found it really interesting (and frankly, a little disheartening) to see how much people would need to make to live comfortably in different parts of the U.S.

That’s one thing though – they specify living comfortably, not paycheck to paycheck. Of course, everyone’s definition of living “comfortably” will be different. But SmartAsset recommends something called a 50/30/20 budget:

The 50/30/20 budget recommends that for sustainable comfort, 50% of your salary should be allocated to your needs, such as housing, groceries and transportation; 30% toward wants like entertainment and hobbies; and 20% toward paying off debt, saving or investing.

By applying the local cost of necessities and taxes to this rule, that’s how they determined the pre-tax salary needed to live comfortably in 99 U.S. cities, both as a single person, and as two working adults with two children.

Here’s the list:

Five most expensive cities for living comfortably

The 5 most expensive cities are, of course, ones you would suspect. All large cities, some on the east coast, some on the west coast:

Five least expensive cities for living comfortably

Interestingly, 4 out of the 5 least expensive places to live are in Texas. And it shouldn't be lost on anyone that the least expensive place to live comfortably is nearly half of the most expensive.

Of course, planning a relocation is much more than just looking at finances. But - and especially if you plan on moving somewhere where you may expect a pay cut, and/or the cost of living is higher - it's definitely something to take into consideration.

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