What do you consider a "decent" income?

[FreshTressa]

I always thought 'six figures' was a magic number and you were cruisin if you got there.

But, we have gotten there and are still one of the poorer families in our area.

 

[crzy4dsny]

I live on Long Island in Suffolk County. I thought I would list some prices so you can compare it to where you live. Im not saying they are high, or low.Im just putting them out there to compare.


I live in a 2 story colonial house that is 1770 sq. ft. I paid $134,000 for it 6 years ago. Now it is worth about $370,000. My property tax's are $4800 a year which is kind of low for some reason. Most people around me seem to pay around $5300. My mortgage is $1700/ month. My electric bill is $120/ month. Car insurance for two cars with full coverage is $2400/ year. Car payment $365/ month. Gas $1.95/ gallon for premium. I paid $1.19/ gallon for heating oil at the begining of the month before it got real cold.

My wife stopped working about a year ago. We felt it would be better for her to stay home with our 3 kids. My base pay would not be enough to support us. I work a lot of overtime and we do ok. I need to bring home at about $4,000/ month.

 

[luv2nascar]

we are probably 25% above the avg for our state
we are a family of four with two pets
we can't afford to take a trip to disney every year or even every other year.
Yes we own a home and have food on the table so we're doing okay
but we are certainly not rich by any means
I have to keep working on saving and budgeting better
pinch a penny here and there ya know

 

[onecoolmama]

Housing is insane here too. Our Median Income for MD is 82,000!!! As an example of housing here, my mom bought her townhouse in the year 2000 for 150k..today, it goes for 400K! I just dont know where people are getting the money from! I know we are a 1 income house...and I choose that, but even with two incomes...you would have to be pulling in 150k between the two of you to be able to afford that!

I am telling you Raleigh and Atlanta are really looking good to me!

 

[polyfan]

I am amazed at the differences between locations. We pay $1600 a year for car insureanc-full coverage on 3 vehicles- 2002 4runner, 91 pick-up, and a 92 Honda Accord. Our property taxes are $3300 a year for a city assessment of$280,000. We built our house 4 years ago for $220,000- 5 bed, 3.5 bath, 3400 sq. ft, brick, etc.. I guess we better stay here!

 

[minniecarousel]

Preshi is right about the SF Bay Area. I laughed at the census average income for Californians. We're in an area where 6 figures is pretty much the norm. (It's gotta take into consideration those folks who live in the rural areas. They can get by with a lot less $$) I don't know how young people buy homes around here. Even rents are high (we have a DS, college graduate, still living at home, looking for an apt - it's tough!)

 

[antkim]

crzy4dsny,
Want to hear something really crazy? My electric bill right now, on a budget, is 258.00!! I was just told it is going up! We have a wood burning stove that heats most of the house BUT electric everywhere esle. Well, last year we ran out of wood a little early and the winter was so cold for so long that we HAD to turn on the electric heat! We couldn't turn if off fully until mid May. So I'm guessing our new budget will be about 275.00 or more! Good old New England! Actually, one of the 1st things I said to DH when he found out the pay rate was "Either we need to convert to another heating system or buy a house that has heat!" LOL The problem is we could never afford this house now with the crazy prices! We bought this 8 years ago for 118,000.00 and could probably list it for close to 260,000-280,000. It would be much more if we had a 3rd bedroom! I would NEVER pay that much for this house! LOL
Kim

Polyfan-DON'T MOVE!!!! LOL

 

[Snowysmom]

Here in eastern Mass, housing costs are ridiculous. The median home price in my town is $350,000. Plus, heating costs are going up all the time. I don't even want to look at the gas bill for this month. Plus, we now pay for college for DS and that takes alot of $$$! I agree with others that if you can pay your bills, have a roof over your head and food to eat that you are doing well. Wish we could save but all our extra money goes to UMass Amherst! I do wish that jobs could come back to America so every one could be comfortable and make a decent salary.

 

[antkim]

We are hoping that with this pay increase we will be able to save for our 2 ds's future schooling! We started a fund for 1st ds a few years ago but had to stop contributing to it this past fall- thanks to our newest addition-Matty! Babies are not cheap! LOL Especially when they are on the most expensive formula and leak through everything except the most expensive diapers! LOL The problem is the more you make the more you spend!!
Like previous posters have said, all that really matters is that we have a roof over our heads and food on the table. Everything else is just a bonus!

Kim

 

[Disney Doll]

I think it depends on the area of the country that you live in. What may be an "average" income in my area (one hour north of NYC), could be considered huge in some other area.

 

[one_cat]

We are making about 1/2 of what we were 3 years ago. I never thought we'd be able to live on it with two kids but it's amazing what you can do. So many people waste so much money (raises hand here). We really are making it and it has been such a learning thing. If I ever get back into that bracket things will be very different.

 

[susy]

We live in South FL. An average nice house 3 bed/2 bath is about $250K.

Dh is making about $57K gross and I am a full time grad student (on loans). That is pretty much our only debt.

Our saving grace:
Back in 1994 when I was 27, my parents helped (gave me the down payment) to buy a 2 bed/2 bath condo. It is a nice community (a little older, built in the 60's), but we do have pools, suana, a golf course, country club. We are ten minutes from the beach. I paid $37,000 for the condo (needed a little work) and put down 20%. As you can imagine our mortgage is beyond cheap at 6%. We have los of closet space and 1000 square feet for the three of us.

When I am done with school (two years) I won't be making much (as a teacher)-probably about 35K, but that is 35K that we don't have or need. My plans are to redo my kitchen and travel!!! We could buy a house at that point, but we'd be living even more meagerly then. I really am past the "big house" thing.

When I was 20 (back in the 80's) my dad was making $200K a year. I lived around the corner from Barry Gibb and from where Jennifer Lopez lives now. We had a two story, five bedroom house with a pool and it doesn't feel any different from living where I am now.

 

[skiwee1]

Looks like Maryland is the highest on the list of incomes. Even with their $82,000 I can't imagine living on that. DH was making that when I met him 19 years ago. Double that and you could begin to live decently. Triple it and I'm happy.

 

[MeanLaureen]

A decent income to me will always be about 20% more than we currently make

 

[ead79]

DH and I fall just below the median for Georgia for 2004 for a 4 person family. Luckily, there are only two of us, LOL! I'm pretty sure that rural Georgia (where the cost of living is much lower than here in metro-Atlanta) got factored into that median because we are only making ends meet with not a lot to spare. In all fairness I have to admit that we do budget for a yearly WDW vacation, which some would consider wasteful, but it's what means the most to us. We feel blessed to be doing as well as we are, though there are many months where I wish the old checkbook balance wasn't so piddly. One DH gets out of school, hopefully we can save for a home (we rent an apartment right now).

 

[Wishing on a star]

Quote:
" $15.00 an hour MORE that what he making now...."

OMG!!! around here just the $15.00 an hour would be inconceivable!!! Sometimes I think that it is just too bad that people in other areas just do not understand what it means for folks like us who work hard, and sacrifice, college educated, etc.. and who live, every day, just on what their 'raises' or 'bonuses' are.

I once read a post on the cruise board, where the poster wrote that they actually 'enjoyed' taking the time to take their children out into Nassau and to see how these people live (poverty and degradation, hawking trinkets and T-shirts for their next meal....) So that their children could see that, in other countries, not everyone lives in a nice 5 bedroom house, has big-screen TV's etc.... Yeah right!!!! Take a look in your own back yard.... Just come visit around here where I live.... I was upset that anyone could think that sombody elses unfortunate cirumstances were an 'enjoyable' vacation (learning ) experience.

Okay, rant over!!!!

 

[snoopy]

In Washington, D.C., for a family of 4, you're going to need a minimum family income of $100,000 per year to live less than "middle class". You really need more like $150,000 between the 2 of you to raise a family in this area. If you move further out to the suburbs, you can survive on less, but then you have to factor into the mix parking, gas and wear & tear on the car (or subway fares) if you work in the city. Its unusual to see many SAHM's here, unless the husband or the wife makes a salary in excess of $120,000 or so (unusual for government jobs). And even then you might struggle.

 

[antkim]

Ummm Wishing on a star I DO understand what it is like to work hard, sacrifice et.. My DH works 2 jobs now and I also work at home and we pretty much are just getting by. So this raise that he will be getting will hopefully give us more peace of mind. Most of this raise is due to the differential pay that he will be getting working 11-7 and being the charge nurse. Just because the pay around here might be higher than where you are from doesn't mean we don't work just as hard. I'm sorry but your response kind of offended me and apparently my post offended you which was not my intent. I apologize for that. I'm not here to make enemies. I do appreciate all that I have and do not go around gloating on others misfortunes.

Kim

 

[Mishetta]

Ughh.....I can't tell you how depressed I am after reading the census median income for a family of 4! If it were 1994, we would just be hitting the median.

On the positive side, I must be doing pretty well managing my DH's very meager income since we own a 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath home (which we had built nearly 8 years ago), have 2 vehicles (one is a '99, one is a '94), can still send our DS8 to a private school, we get to eat out once a week, I get to be a SAHM, & we have gotten to go to WDW 3 times in 3 years! Not to mention, we did all this after surviving a 15 month period of unemployement with ZERO income. Yep, that was a big fat ZERO for 15 months. Things are pretty tight around here though!

(I guess it all depends on what is important to you.)

 

[sue1013]

I also was offended by wishing on a star's post. What makes you think we don't work hard??? Just because someone has a higher salary than you doesn't mean they haven't worked hard to get there and still do everyday. If salaries are so low in your area, your cost of living is probably lower too (housing, property taxes, insurance).