7 ms·
Sadly $200k/yr does not go very far anymore, even in the midwest.
by mberning 3y ago
Sadly $200k/yr does not go very far anymore, even in the midwest.
- flatline 3y agoI would consider $150k/yr in a MCOL area comfortably middle class - what single-income households used to have much more regularly. You can afford kids, a house, a car, a couple low-cost family vacations each year, and maybe put some money aside for savings. That is now pretty much the median salary for a bunch of high earners.
- acchow 3y agoDuring the automakers book in Detroit, UAW negotiated a $191.60 weekly salary (for 40 hours work) in 1972. https://www.americamagazine.org/issue/100/victory-auto-workers https://www.americamagazine.org/issue/100/victory-auto-worke... Adjusted for inflation, that is $1407 today, or about $73.1k per year.
- abduhl 3y agoThis statement is ridiculous. $200k/yr goes very far, especially in the Midwest.
- tempsy 3y agoNo it doesn’t, especially if you want to buy a house. It isn’t just inflation that is the issue, it’s interest rates. If you make $200k gross and put money into a 401k, you’ll net about $120k or $10k a month depending on state income taxes. at 7.5% mortgage rates, a $1M house somewhere like Chicago would be $8k a month assuming 20% down. Obviously you cannot afford that on your own.
- loeg 3y agoThe average Chicago house price is like, a quarter or a third of that. And, uh, $2-6k a month for non-mortgage expenses goes a long way?
- tempsy 3y ago3+ bedroom, detached houses are not $300k-$400k in a good area of Chicago no
- tptacek 3y agoSure they are. Pop open Redfin in Portage Park. Hell, you can get a detached 3bdr in Lincoln Square for under $400k. (Don't; buy one in Portage or Jefferson Park). This weird argument seems to come up every 3 months or so on HN; I've only started noticing recently because we spent this year buying a new house, so incongruity of the argument ("you can't get a 3bdr for $400k") leaps out at me.
- mberning 3y agoI’m not familiar with Chicago, but the only 3br showing up for me in Lincoln Square is $835k.
- tptacek 3y agoI get 3, one of them on the corner of Lincoln and Foster. (For the record: $400k isn't the budget I'd go into Lincoln Square with, and if I was buying in Lincoln Square I probably wouldn't be thinking about a detached house in the first place. But it seems you can definitely do it.)
- finolex1 3y ago500k gets you a very nice house in Chicago. If you were to rent instead, 5k/month would get you a luxury 2 bed room apartment close to the Magnificent mile.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- jkubicek 3y agoWhy in the world would you buy a $1M house in Chicago? $500k would get you a decent house in a decent neighborhood that would be more than big enough for even a four-person family. A $1mm house is an absolute luxury house almost everywhere in the US.
- tempsy 3y agoNo it doesn’t. Feel free to look at new listings for detached houses in central Chicago right now with 3+ bedrooms and tell me there’s more $500k listings than >$1M ones
- jkubicek 3y ago> central Chicago Well sure, limit yourself to a tiny area filled with high-priced housing and nobody should be surprised that you find mostly high-priced housing. That doesn't mean that there's not tons of reasonably-priced housing in the area.
- tptacek 3y agoNo family moves into a detached house in "central Chicago".
- imtringued 3y agoI find it amusing that people talked about low interest rates making housing more expensive and now people say high interest rates make housing more expensive. The thing is, I don't think there is a "money" problem when it comes to housing. More or less money won't change a thing. The problem is on the physical side. One house can only house one family. If there are too few houses and too many families, houses will be expensive no matter the interest rate. The interest rate is just an additional expense on top that determines the bankers' share in the deal.
- mensetmanusman 3y agoMore people live alone now than ever, which has actually drastically reduced supply. Any interesting consequence of all the boomer divorces is the square footage required for their lives almost doubled.
- loeg 3y agoLow interest rates helped drive prices higher, but high interest rates help drive monthly costs higher even without higher nominal prices. You’re right that it’s ultimately a supply and demand problem.
- tptacek 3y agoYou ought to tell that to all the homeowners in Jefferson Park, whose average household income is half that.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- hotnfresh 3y agoIt’s like 2-3x median household income in most midwestern cities (let alone out in the sticks).
- GenerWork 3y agoWhat? Is this for someone living in downtown Chicago and supporting a family? $200k a year even for a single earner should go pretty far, especially if you have a house (which is very attainable in the Midwest on a $200k salary).
- phillipcarter 3y agoUhhh, excuse me, what? What on earth are you spending your money on? 200k/year goes quite far pretty much anywhere in the US. Yes, areas like SF or Seattle are so expensive that children are a luxury item and no house sells below 1M/year. But in nearly every other part of the country that's simply not true.
- eek2121 3y agoHe is saying what many of us are thinking. $100,000-$200,000 are now middle class, not upper middle, thanks to inflation. For a family with kids you are looking at rent in excess of $3,000/mo or houses over $400,000. We make a quarter million a year, and while we definitely don’t have trouble getting by, we also aren’t maxing out our 401k. Childcare alone takes up a substantial chunk of our income.
- light_hue_1 3y agoExactly. This was not our situation even 3 years ago. 3 years ago we felt financially very secure, like the future was rosy, we could save money, and look forward to children. Even now, like you, we don't have trouble getting by, but, we aren't maxing anything out. We watch what we're spending and we feel like we're just about sliding by with how crazy childcare is. Things aren't going well at all.
- astrange 3y agoI think you should look at how much over the median household income you are and then go find out what those people are doing.
- mberning 3y agoThe evidence would suggest that people making a median income are up to their eyeballs in debt, particularly credit card debt, and have very little hope of their situation improving in the future.
- ohdannyboy 3y agoCould you clarify what it means to "go very far?" I make about that much and live very well in one of Chicago's most expensive neighborhoods.
- bcrosby95 3y agoI'm able to get by as a sole income earner with a family of 5 on a ~$200k salary, in California of all places. We aren't flying to Hawaii every weekend but it's enough for a lifestyle similar to what I had growing up here, which I would describe as middle-to-upper-middle class. I still have to think about what I'm spending, but money isn't really a problem.
- superbiome 3y agoCalifornia is a big state. Are we talking a major coastal city or inland somewhere?
- bcrosby95 3y agoIt's a suburb of LA.
- niij 3y agoHN moment.