What do you consider a "comfortable" yearly salary?

[HeatherC]

Been seeing lots of money, budget, job hunting, cost of living threads lately and got to wondering...

What do most people consider a "comfortable" salary?

Obviously, there are lots of factors like where you live, size of family, etc..

But based on your own perspective what do you consider "comfortable"?

I live in MA which has a pretty high COL. With our lifestyle and where we live, I think I consider $125,000 a year to be very comfortable. Obviously, more would be more comfortable, but I think that amount allows people to have a decent home, save for retirement, vacation a bit, put some aside for kids college, etc.

What do you guys think?

 

[Christine]

Comfortable in my area (DC Metro) would be about $200K. That would allow for a mortgage, car payment(s), maximum amount for both workers to contribute to retirement, pay for most college tuition, eat out when I want, and vacation moderately once a year. It would basically allow me to live moderately without worrying about where every penny went and scrimping.

Now, if I wanted to amass more savings, I could then go into penny pinching/frugality mode. I know some people enjoy that, but I find it stressful so if I *had* to do that, I would be "comfortable."

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Rural Missouri, near STL. $100,000 total household is comfortable - $80,000 if you have a Cadillac health plan and/or no need to see a doctor or dentist.

 

[leebee]

Orono, Maine. It's a small college town right next to Bangor, about a 2+ hour highway drive north of Portland, ME. Median housing cost in our town is $189K, median income is $34K. Bass-ackwards, for sure. I don't know if the data are skewed by the town being a college town. If student income is considered, I understand the low median income vs. high housing cost; kids earn little, but live on campus or in crappy apartments, while the rest of us buy houses. In any case, I think about $100K would be good enough, although probably not enough to fully fund retirement and college accounts. We don't make that, and it's tight. Yes, we could NOT eat out once a week, or skip the taproom a couple nights, but for 2 of us I bet we spend maybe $40 a week doing that- on a BIG week. One good thing about college town life is there's always cheap beer, 2-for-1 pizza night, etc.! Cost of living is high up here (eggs are $3.59 a dozen right now).

 

[mjkacmom]

NYC area - $200,000.

 

[mjkacmom]

Orono, Maine. It's a small college town right next to Bangor, about a 2+ hour highway drive north of Portland, ME. Median housing cost in our town is $189K, median income is $34K. Bass-ackwards, for sure. I don't know if the data are skewed by the town being a college town. If student income is considered, I understand the low median income vs. high housing cost; kids earn little, but live on campus or in crappy apartments, while the rest of us buy houses. In any case, I think about $100K would be good enough, although probably not enough to fully fund retirement and college accounts. We don't make that, and it's tight. Yes, we could NOT eat out once a week, or skip the taproom a couple nights, but for 2 of us I bet we spend maybe $40 a week doing that- on a BIG week. One good thing about college town life is there's always cheap beer, 2-for-1 pizza night, etc.! Cost of living is high up here (eggs are $3.59 a dozen right now).

$189,000 would get you a condo here.

 

[SC Minnie]

Suburbs of Charlotte in a good school district- $175,000 total household income. This would provide a modest home, car payment, children to do some extras or childcare, and a vacation once a year. Plus savings for retirement and college.

This is my opinion. I know people who get by on less.

 

[MrsDuck]

I'm in South Florida. DH and I make about $87k combined before taxes. I'm a public school teacher, he works in the financial industry. We are able to afford 2 cars (make payments on one), we own a 3br/2ba house in a gated neighborhood, and we pay his school loans monthly. No credit card debt but also no kids. We eat out when we want, go to Disney frequently, don't have to worry too much about purchases, etc. We are fine - right now. Not sure how kids are going to even be a financial possibility.

ETA: if I was single, there would be no way I'd be able to support myself on my teacher's salary in this area ($39k before taxes).

 

[Christine]

Suburbs of Charlotte in a good school district- $175,000 total household income. This would provide a modest home, car payment, children to do some extras or childcare, and a vacation once a year. Plus savings for retirement and college.

This is my opinion. I know people who get by on less.

My post was similar to your post--same things define "comfortable" to me. I know people can get by on probably WAY less, but that doesn't define "comfortable" for me. I'm sure this thread will get very different answers as everyone feels comfortable at different levels.

 

[FINFAN]

Suburbs of Charlotte in a good school district- $175,000 total household income. This would provide a modest home, car payment, children to do some extras or childcare, and a vacation once a year. Plus savings for retirement and college.

This is my opinion. I know people who get by on less.

I was going to say the same salary, basing on typical family of 4. I am in the Chicago western 'burbs

 

[MickeySP]

$189,000 would get you a condo here.

I am also in MA on the coast. Median home cost here about 300-350K. So household I would say 175-200K.

 

[leebee]

I am also in MA on the coast. Median home cost here about 300-350K. So household I would say 175-200K.

That's a large part of why we didn't look to "go home" when we moved back east. No way we'd ever be able to afford a house and still do the things we wanted.

 

[eliza61]

lol, always 10K more than I make.

 

[MickeySP]

lol, always 10K more than I make.

This is why I thank goodness for overtime!!

That's a large part of why we didn't look to "go home" when we moved back east. No way we'd ever be able to afford a house and still do the things we wanted.

Yeah I here you. And we are not even in the top 5 most expensive towns in MA

 

[BellsFam]

Another MA resident... I've worked assessing homes in prominent MA towns and I'd say some parts of MA $80k and other parts of MA at least $200-$250!

It's amazing what 30mins in one direction can do!!!

 

[tvguy]

As we discovered in the "Is $100,000" thread, too many variables. Location, lifestyle, etc.

My mom got $15,000 a year in Social Security. Her expenses were about $12,500 a year. But her house had been paid for for 53 years, her car paid for for 10 years (she kept the previous car 27 years). She had another $12,500 a year in pension and IRA distributions.
For her, $25,000 was a comfortable income. DW and I have never made over $100,000 a year in combined income. When our kids were home, it was a little tight. Now that they are gone, it's comfortable.

 

[MomofKatie]

Suburbs of Charlotte in a good school district- $175,000 total household income. This would provide a modest home, car payment, children to do some extras or childcare, and a vacation once a year. Plus savings for retirement and college.

This is my opinion. I know people who get by on less.

We also live in a Charlotte suburb, good school district. $175k would be wealthy to me!! We own a 3 bed/2 1/2 bath home, make a car payment, paid for DD to play club sports, take a modest vacation every year, save for retirement, and will pay for at least part of DD's college. We are a one-income family and get by (relatively) comfortably on less than half of the above amount.

I would love us to have more income- I am actively looking for a job to be able to help pay for college for DD. An additional $15k per year in takehome pay would enable us to really afford a good public in state school for DD without having to take out loans.

I guess I would consider $90-95k very comfortable where we live.

 

[arminnie]

A paid for home and great low cost health coverage in a low cost area with no children, low taxes and no other debt - $50,000 could be extremely comfortable income. But that's not very common.

 

[morgan98]

Comfortable salary per person or per household? If for a household, how large of a household?

This question is very ambiguous.

 

[BlovesC]

I'd say $150,000 for a couple with student loans and no kids would be comfortable...not wealthy, but comfortable.