I am thinking of moving to the US to work for 2-4 years, and I’m wondering what’s your view on what salary level would be pretty decent to live a moderate lifestyle and to be able to save money? Moderate lifestyle implies mostly cooking at home, occasional eating out, occasional trips, basic clothes, and no crazy purchases. This would depend on the area, and most probably it would be San Jose or San Francisco (tech). Would you say that something like 180k-200k would be reasonable to live and to save something like 3-5k a month? I’m currently working as a Senior Data Scientist and I’d be looking at similar jobs.
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Just a clarification, I understand that this question gets asked a lot, but I really struggle to understand what it is like. I’m at crossroads in life with either staying in Australia and being able to save around 2k USD a month or trying to improve my financial situation by finding a great offer and working in the US temporarily. I’ve lost pretty much all my savings through bad investments and a recent divorce, and 2k pm won’t get me far fast enough. I do enjoy the lifestyle in Australia and I realize that it would be very different in the US, but also I need to improve my financial position, ideally, relatively quickly. Thanks.
I started at 75k as a software engineer. With the cost of living in my state I was able to save a paycheck a month which was around $1800
Tech worker in the Seattle area. I make about 110K and am very comfortable. Single, I own my house, and put away about $2500 a month in cash savings and $1200 in 401K contributions a month, thats after all expenses. I would say its a very comfortable life. We dont have a state income tax here which is amazing. And no, property tax isnt unusually high here either.
It’s highly dependant on where you live.
I’m a SW engineer in Oregon (App development, physics-based modeling, AI/ML modelling, sys admin, DB junk). I make $78k a year and can put away about $600 a month in savings after rent/utilities. Took about 5 years to get to this Salary. Will probably break through $80k this year if things start looking better for the economy.
I could take a similar job in San Diego (actually fewer responsibilities) and get a $50k bump in income.
If you’re making 180-200k a year and not saving a good amount…that’s a budgeting problem and you’d definitely be living extremely well.
I think you probably need to consider that being here on a work visa means you’re here temporary, unless you do something like marry an American. And being here temporary with some level of uncertainty might mean things like renting rather than buying (renting isn’t necessarily a bad financial move in the high cost of living areas, but can be a drag in more mid tier and lower cost of living areas), frequently visiting “home”, maybe paying to maintain some type of residence or long term storage at home, etc…
I have no idea what its like coming here to work, and our IT industry generally pays pretty well (Big Tech being slightly unreliable right now notwithstanding, there’s still tons of tech jobs out there). Just some food for thought. Being here temporarily may introduce its own costs.
It’s really going to depend on the area you live and the lifestyle you want.
In The Bay area $140k ($200k-$60k) is doable on a modest budget.
Monthly budget will look like this:
$11k total pay ($140k/12 months)
Taxes taken out is about 30% (20% federal effective tax rate, and 10% California state tax) – $3.3k
Rent should be around 30% – $3.3k (doable for a small studio)
Other bills and debts (utilities/car payment/insurance/phone) shouldn’t go above 20% – $2.2k
That leaves 20% for other expenses -$2.2k
Overall I’d say that’s doable for The Bay area if you’re fairly frugal.
From what I can gather, 180-200k seems high, but 150-180k should just about do it
Of course these are all fantasy land numbers for me currently 😆 I make 75k (~86k if you count goodies like benefits and options) as a data engineer in
– a poorer state than average
– with a bachelors only (working on that!)
– a few months into my first job in the field
Fixing those would get me a beefy pay raise so I can see where that money adds up, but it still seems unreal
With your skill set, the best advice I can give you is to not take a job in the Bay Area. Get a job outside of California if possible. You have a skill set that’s in demand everywhere. Use that to take a job in a low cost of living state with low taxes. That’s not California.
I have friends living in the Bay Area. Quality of life is inferior, and sadly $200k doesn’t get you far. You’ll probably be in Oakland or far South in the Bay.
Get a job in Texas or Florida. For that same amount you can easily bank several thousand a month and live very well. Your job is everywhere.
Also, go for naturalized citizen. You only start making bank when you have flexibility, and if a company is sponsoring you they don’t have to pay. Naturalize. Hop a few times, including some smart startups. If you’re good, you can get OTE well over $300k plus good options. Join a tech startup. Get shares. 15-20 years. Retire comfortably.
Let’s take a look at what $150k in the Bay Area could get you…
Assuming single, $150 per month in health insurance, and 10% to retirement, your take home would be around $7.3k. Average studio rental in say Sunnyvale is $2k. Throw in say $300 in utilities and you’re left with $5k in living expenses and savings. So I’d say $150k would be plenty for a modest lifestyle while still putting away plenty in savings. You could probably still find it down in the $100k area, you just might need to make some sacrifices like having a roommate or not eating out as much.
Housing in San Francisco can be prohibitively expensive. You need to look into what apartments cost. A friend of mine was paying $2000 a month for a studio apartment like ten years ago. It’s gone up.