What do you consider a "comfortable" yearly salary?

[mjkacmom]

A lot of these numbers seem quite high to me. Sure, $250k would be nice but I don't consider that necessary to be "comfortable" I know everyone's situation is different and perhaps that's why the opinions vary so widely, but maybe we also have different definitions of "comfortable"

Our current income ($60k) is not what I would consider "comfortable" because we don't have enough for too many unnecessary expenses and I do need to pay attention to our spending each month. But I can't see how we would need 3+ times that amount to be comfortable. With our current income we own a 3000 sq ft home in a nice neighborhood, two cars, contribute to retirement, have over $40k in accessible cash, and take a vacation every year. $100k would be plenty comfortable for our family of five.

So, could you afford a $800,000 home, and $16,000 a year property tax bill? That's what a home that size goes for here.

 

[sunshinemelody]

So, could you afford a $800,000 home, and $16,000 a year property tax bill? That's what a home that size goes for here.

Where we live, a 3K sq. ft home goes upward from $1M (you can find some for less, but those are gems). So. I know for a fact that my future combined comfortable salary would be able to take care of that if I were to stay in CT, but on a $60K salary? I'd laugh myself into an early grave.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

You have to wonder if a FULL ride happens anymore!
My semi-brilliant nephew received an National award in 7th grade because of his near perfect SAT score-finished 5th in class of all Honors kids (a select Boarding high school -10-12th grade-for brilliant kids in Arts and science-all arrived with over 4.0 averages)....and he only had a little scholarship $$

I got the Missouri Curators scholarship coming out of HS, which at the time was 100% free tuition to any U-MO campus. Today, the same award is a dollar value. And the value is about what tuition was 30 years ago

 

[NewRVLady]

Gumbo-my nephew had full scholarship in our state also-but he was looking at MIT.. & very specialized Computer robotics programs .
He is at Carnegie-Melon. Now Sophomore year, he does research for $ as his college 'job"

 

[FINFAN]

You have to wonder if a FULL ride happens anymore!
My semi-brilliant nephew received an National award in 7th grade because of his near perfect SAT score-finished 5th in class of all Honors kids (a select Boarding high school -10-12th grade-for brilliant kids in Arts and science-all arrived with over 4.0 averages)....and he only had a little scholarship $$

WOW...he should have been offered WAY more but there's my point exactly~no way of knowing what amount of scholarships will occur (if any). I think they DO still happen, my niece accepted a full ride offer in 2010 , but my brother had her 529 in place in case. However, I believe (like everything else) they are less and less of them offered.

 

[bethy]

That just proves out the vast differences in cost of living. To be able to afford a 3000 sq ft home on $60,000 is unheard of here. Would never happen. You'd never qualify for the mortgage. Most people here making that are trying to figure out how to live in an apartment without roommates!

^^^^

 

[tzolkin]

So, could you afford a $800,000 home, and $16,000 a year property tax bill? That's what a home that size goes for here.

No, I couldn't.

That's why I acknowledged that everyone's situation is different and said that MY family would be comfortable on $100k income. Never implied that you needed to be comfortable at that amount.

That was also a factor in our decision to move. $230,000 8yr old home (mortgaged for less than that after down payment) and our taxes are now only $1,600. ($10,000+ was the norm where we were before)

 

[hsmamato2]

This thread is very interesting..... I was actually shocked at so many responses here..... I don't even know anyone who makes over 100k per year,and we all live pretty comfortably.....maybe my definition of comfortable is just different?

 

[mjkacmom]

This thread is very interesting..... I was actually shocked at so many responses here..... I don't even know anyone who makes over 100k per year,and we all live pretty comfortably.....maybe my definition of comfortable is just different?

I don't know of any family that makes under $100,000, and most people I know are just getting by.

 

[punkin]

Wow! Huge difference in COL. My 2300 sq. ft. house is a 1964 split level on a 60x100 lot. The linoleum (yes, linoleum) in my kitchen is peeling; my Formica counters are scratched up. My powder room is original to the house and is in desperate need of a complete remodel. This June a smaller house on my block, in worse shape came on the market for $600k. There was a bidding war. It sold for $625k within a week. No way anyone could live here on $100k. The numbers just don't add up.

 

[eliza61]

This thread is very interesting..... I was actually shocked at so many responses here..... I don't even know anyone who makes over 100k per year,and we all live pretty comfortably.....maybe my definition of comfortable is just different?

Everybody does have a different definition. I work for a large chemical company. Our starting salary for college graduates with a bs is usually around 65K-70K, that's straight out of college and they complain about that being low. lol. so by the time they've been here 5-10 years they are definitely creeping up to 80-85K and the starting salary for MS and Phd's is definitely at 100k.
Heck my sister retired from NYPD and her salary was up there.

comfortable is definitely subjective and I know in my case it changed through out my life. when we were saving up for the kids college, the things we felt we had to have to be happy were very different.

as a previous poster mentioned, when my kids were small we lived in Southern NJ, my property taxes were 12K a year. that's 1000 bucks a month on top of our mortgage. no way, no how could we have afforded that on 60K a year and my house was not uber big (at least I didn't think so).

Now the problem usually creeps in when folks have to decide the line between "comfortable" and "surviving". could I survive without ever taking a vacation? yes and I fully realize that many people are in that position. would I consider that a comfortable standard of living. no. not at all.

Now that I'm getting older, things are changing again. I don't have college tuition hanging over my head and I downsized (well not really, lol) back to the city. My property taxes went down but other cost went up. I don't need a house with a backyard but now I pay city wage tax.

 

[soccerdad72]

I don't know of any family that makes under $100,000, and most people I know are just getting by.

I don't know what anyone around me makes, period. It's just not something discussed with family and friends.

 

[sunshinemelody]

Our starting salary for college graduates with a bs is usually around 65K-70K, that's straight out of college and they complain about that being low. lol.

We're spoiled.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I don't know what anyone around me makes, period. It's just not something discussed with family and friends.

I would imagine the PP who knows no household making $100,000+ and the PP who knows no household making less would both be shocked to find they're both quite wrong.

 

[Colleen27]

Colleen...I feel your pain with the college savings thing. Based on what we have seen and found out, it seems that if a family makes anywhere near $50,000 a year then any sort of financial "aid" that is need based is nonexistent. That doesn't count loans or scholarships, but actual aid. We were primarily a one income family for many years (I work part time) and since my DH has made over $50,000 since we got married 20 years ago, we qualified for NO financial aid. The financial aid packages were"here's some loans you can take".. I guess my point is that a full time job probably won't even impact any aid if your DH makes close to or over $50,000.

I definitely know where you're coming from. Our income is in that general neighborhood and my financial aid package is "here's some loans you can take", and even that doesn't cover the difference between the actual cost of attendance and our fairly low EFC unless I want to take out private loans over and above the direct loan limits. But the math is a little different with the schools my daughter is looking at because they're both private universities with huge endowments and institutional aid policies aimed at increasing "economic diversity". With a mid-5-figure household income one wouldn't expect us to contribute at all, while the other would expect a token contribution that we can cover. With a low-6-figure income, on the other hand, we'd be over the threshold of those diversity programs and would have to come up with a LOT more to cover our share.

Our joke has been that one of DD's criteria for choosing a college is that it has to cost more than we make in a year. Neither of these schools are in reach at full price. So I suppose there's a point in favor of a much higher definition of a comfortable income - this would all be much easier if we had an extra $70K/year laying around and could send her to any college she chooses without having to think about financial aid at all.

 

[Colleen27]

I would imagine the PP who knows no household making $100,000+ and the PP who knows no household making less would both be shocked to find they're both quite wrong.

I suppose it depends on their social circle. As a country we do tend to self-segregate by income to a huge degree. As of the last census there were no households with a 6-figure income in my zip code. I'll bet a lot of people in my town, which is very much a place that people stay generation after generation, don't know anyone with an income over 100K in any but the most casual way (ie professionals they encounter strictly in a business capacity). And I suspect some of our more well-off relatives are just as sheltered at the upper end of the scale based on some of the offhand comments I've heard from them at family gatherings.

 

[nugov2]

It would be interesting what a family spends monthly. That would probably put things in perspective. Though I've only read a little of the thread so it is possible that has been discussed.

We spend about 6,000- 6,500 a month before savings. 3,000 of it is on mortgage and taxes and we put 100,000 down on our house. Our tax bill is huge. 1,000 is food and other household expenses for our family of 5. 1500 on bills. We have one car payment we bought our other car in cash. I'd estimate another 1,000 between activities, fun money, clothes, gifts and other misc. Some months that number is lower and we add the surplus to savings.

I know people who make less than 100,000 but they don't save. I think the average person I know is in the mid to upper 100,000. We are comfortable, but an extra 30,000 would be nice. I don't work so that extra is easily attainable if I went back, but for no we choose less fun money so that I can be home.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I suppose it depends on their social circle. As a country we do tend to self-segregate by income to a huge degree. As of the last census there were no households with a 6-figure income in my zip code. I'll bet a lot of people in my town, which is very much a place that people stay generation after generation, don't know anyone with an income over 100K in any but the most casual way (ie professionals they encounter strictly in a business capacity). And I suspect some of our more well-off relatives are just as sheltered at the upper end of the scale based on some of the offhand comments I've heard from them at family gatherings.

But even in a case like your extreme example of your county, you can't say you "don't know" anyone making $100,000 or more.

I know in my area, which is a VERY low COL & not particularly generous when it comes to salaries, a teacher with a masters & 20 years makes $55,000+. A husband/wife in their 40's, both teachers, that's $110,000 - and that's assuming neither of them coach, works Summers, etc.

On the flip side, I worked for many years at corporate headquarters for a billion dollar a year corp. And while not NYC, it was a MUCH higher COL area than where I live. All the movers & shakers were there - Pres, VP's, department heads, sales execs, etc. But, I also know for a fact that better than half the people I worked with were earning less than $50,000 - some, less than $25,000. And some of them were single moms.


So, I maintain that for those of us in low COL areas, there are more $100,000+ households than we realize. And for those in high COL areas, there are more sub $100,000 households than they realize.

 

[mjkacmom]

I don't know what anyone around me makes, period. It's just not something discussed with family and friends.

Of course no one talks about salary. The average home price here is $471,000, and most of our friends live in average homes. Everyone's property taxes are over $10,000 a year. My very average utility bill us $500 a month. Many of our friends have both spouses working, and if wouldn't even know which spouse makes more money. However, just based on basic living expenses, a family needs a certain income just to live here.

 

[DiannaVM]

Where I live, I would say $50,000 a year (per person) minimum would be comfortable for a childless couple. My DH and I make quite a bit less than that, and although we are able to get by, its makes it very difficult to save for a home. Our rent is reasonable (a rare feat here) but at the same time we live in a one bedroom apartment that is not very spacious. And homes, unless you want to buy a broken down house in the "questionable" parts of town, there is no way you can find one selling for less than $250,000 here. It definitely makes it very discouraging for a young couple starting out and planning to start a family.

This is why I am so looking forward to our Disney World vacation. It may be the last real vacation we will have in a while because once we get back we are going to go into full saving mode to try and gather enough for a down payment for a home within the next year.