How much of month earning is enough to live a normal life in US?

13 comments

1. Too many factors to consider to give you a proper answer.

2. It depends wildly on where you live. If I lived in NYC or SF with my salary, I’d be in a shithole apartment or literally homeless, but instead I have my own home and over an acre of land.

3. Varies way too much from state to state, city to city or even rural living

4. About $8k before taxes unfortunately. Depending on where in the country and the size of your family.

5. Depends on where you live. I live in the dallas area. I clear about 2500 and the wife 1800. We have 2 teenagers so that certainly adds to the cost, as well as 1 car payment.

6. In San Francisco or in rural Mississippi ?

7. Varies greatly depending on where you live.

   It’s worth noting, the pay scales for the most part. If you’re living in, say, southwest Missouri where prices are among the lowest in the country, chances are you will be making a crap income to balance it out.

8. I try to live the 1/3 rule

   1/3 of pay for housing (rent or mortgage)
   1/3 for running such housing (hydro, water, gas, etc)
   1/3 for living (food, fun, etc)

9. Depends on location.

10. It depends a lot of geography and what you consider normal. There’s no one $$$ value for this. People live normal lives with a wide range of incomes.

11. Just depends where you want to live.

    You can buy a home in San Fran for the average price of 1.5 million

    Or live in a small rural town where a house cost $100,000

12. To many variables to know an exact number. Basically its more about living inside your means. So your pay should give you enough money to pay all bills and living expenses and put some away for savings. If you don’t do that you are either not making enough or living outside of your means. (I.e. spending to much on things you don’t need).

13. In a modestly priced area with a family, $8k is low but doable.