5 ms·

It depends where you live. In San Francisco or New York, 100K isn't going to go very far. In Houston or a rural area, it will. According to a cost of living

by defen 16y ago

It depends where you live. In San Francisco or New York, 100K isn't going to go very far. In Houston or a rural area, it will. According to a cost of living adjustment calculator I found online, 100K in Houston is equivalent to 186K in San Francisco. http://swz.salary.com/costoflivingwizard/layoutscripts/coll_start.aspx http://swz.salary.com/costoflivingwizard/layoutscripts/coll_...

jamesaguilar 16y ago
Isn't going to go very far is such an interesting statement. When I was making 100k a year in SF, I felt plenty wealthy. I guess if you have really expensive tastes 100k won't seem like much, but it's more than enough to be happy and do everything you could reasonably need to do.
- kooshball 16y ago
  did you buy a house? did you plan to? the main increase in cost of living compared to other parts of the country is the rent or down payment + mortgage.
nostrademons 16y ago
That is so incredibly misleading. The problem with these cost-of-living adjusters is that they don't consider which goods are location-dependent and which aren't. So yes, your rent will probably be double in SF what it is in Houston. However, if you make $100K, rent is only a small portion of your income. And a dollar of savings in SF is just as good as a dollar of savings in Houston. The way COL-calculators should work is that they should take a basket of monthly expenses typical for someone in the given income bracket, index that to the given location, and then subtract that from your salary offer in the new area. It's not a straight linear sliding scale. I would much rather be making $186k in SF than $100K in Houston, because I'd only be spending about $40K in living expenses in SF vs. $25K in Houston, and $186k - $40K = $146k is much greater than $100K - $25K = $75k.
- akgerber 16y ago
  One big thing: you probably need to maintain one car per adult member of the household in Houston, but can live well with <=1 car in San Francisco proper. With insurance, maintenance, and amortized vehicle cost, you're probably $1500/year/car minimum. More if you want a car that's a status symbol.
- kaffeinecoma 16y ago
  Sounds like a great project for someone: realcostofliving.com
  - ebaysucks 16y ago
    Just wait until the Square API comes out.
- defen 16y ago
  You have to factor in taxes also: 186000 SF Income -46497 federal income tax - 8170 FICA tax - 2697 Medicare tax -15473 California state income tax -40000 Living expenses ------ 73163 Savings 100000 Houston income -21709 Federal income tax - 7650 FICA tax - 1450 Medicare tax -25000 Living expenses ------ 44191 Savings SF still comes out on top, so I imagine the breakeven point is somewhere closer to 160K in SF.
- phlux 16y ago
  >....if you make $100K, rent is only a small portion of your income. I'm not sure what you are thinking here. If you make 100K, your take home pay after taxes is ~$6,000. For any reasonable place to live in SF - your going to be between 1800 and 2500 for a two bedroom. Thats not "a small portion of your income" Additionally - you may have health care costs of as much as 750 per month if you have a spouse and child on your plan. Figure as much as 400 to 600 per month for a car. 100 for cable, 150 for an unlimited family cell plan. School costs for your kid, and god-forbid you. like me, have child support to an ex. So: 6000 Income 750 insurance 2000 rent 100 internet/tv 150 cell 100 power 1000 kids school/child support 250 other debts 600 car+insurance == 4950 That leaves 1050 for the remainder of the month. Which is ~260 each week for expenses such as food, gas, savings, a beer with friends, date night, a bottle of wine etc... 100k is literally the bare min in SF to live moderately comfortable. Now assuming you didn't have the school/child support, you can replace that with savings, which is great. but for a lot of people it is a 1K expense not savings. Additionally - this doesn't account for a lot of other potential monthly expenses that are common.

by defen 16y ago

jamesaguilar 16y ago

Isn't going to go very far is such an interesting statement. When I was making 100k a year in SF, I felt plenty wealthy. I guess if you have really expensive tastes 100k won't seem like much, but it's more than enough to be happy and do everything you could reasonably need to do.

kooshball 16y ago
did you buy a house? did you plan to? the main increase in cost of living compared to other parts of the country is the rent or down payment + mortgage.

nostrademons 16y ago

That is so incredibly misleading. The problem with these cost-of-living adjusters is that they don't consider which goods are location-dependent and which aren't. So yes, your rent will probably be double in SF what it is in Houston. However, if you make $100K, rent is only a small portion of your income. And a dollar of savings in SF is just as good as a dollar of savings in Houston. The way COL-calculators should work is that they should take a basket of monthly expenses typical for someone in the given income bracket, index that to the given location, and then subtract that from your salary offer in the new area. It's not a straight linear sliding scale. I would much rather be making $186k in SF than $100K in Houston, because I'd only be spending about $40K in living expenses in SF vs. $25K in Houston, and $186k - $40K = $146k is much greater than $100K - $25K = $75k.

akgerber 16y ago
One big thing: you probably need to maintain one car per adult member of the household in Houston, but can live well with <=1 car in San Francisco proper. With insurance, maintenance, and amortized vehicle cost, you're probably $1500/year/car minimum. More if you want a car that's a status symbol.
kaffeinecoma 16y ago
Sounds like a great project for someone: realcostofliving.com
- ebaysucks 16y ago
  Just wait until the Square API comes out.
defen 16y ago
You have to factor in taxes also: 186000 SF Income -46497 federal income tax - 8170 FICA tax - 2697 Medicare tax -15473 California state income tax -40000 Living expenses ------ 73163 Savings 100000 Houston income -21709 Federal income tax - 7650 FICA tax - 1450 Medicare tax -25000 Living expenses ------ 44191 Savings SF still comes out on top, so I imagine the breakeven point is somewhere closer to 160K in SF.
phlux 16y ago
>....if you make $100K, rent is only a small portion of your income. I'm not sure what you are thinking here. If you make 100K, your take home pay after taxes is ~$6,000. For any reasonable place to live in SF - your going to be between 1800 and 2500 for a two bedroom. Thats not "a small portion of your income" Additionally - you may have health care costs of as much as 750 per month if you have a spouse and child on your plan. Figure as much as 400 to 600 per month for a car. 100 for cable, 150 for an unlimited family cell plan. School costs for your kid, and god-forbid you. like me, have child support to an ex. So: 6000 Income 750 insurance 2000 rent 100 internet/tv 150 cell 100 power 1000 kids school/child support 250 other debts 600 car+insurance == 4950 That leaves 1050 for the remainder of the month. Which is ~260 each week for expenses such as food, gas, savings, a beer with friends, date night, a bottle of wine etc... 100k is literally the bare min in SF to live moderately comfortable. Now assuming you didn't have the school/child support, you can replace that with savings, which is great. but for a lot of people it is a 1K expense not savings. Additionally - this doesn't account for a lot of other potential monthly expenses that are common.