Unmarried 30-something here, no kids. When I made 100K, my monthly expenses were ~$3000, but I took home about $5000, which left me with a little over 2K in sa

Unmarried 30-something here, no kids. When I made 100K, my monthly expenses were ~$3000, but I took home about $5000, which left me with a little over 2K in savings each month. The #1 expense is rent (SF Bay Area is bad), followed by food (I eat out for lunch every day, and I don't cook often in my shitty apartment). One thing to consider is that $1 is $1 anywhere in the country. Consider the following scenario: 50K salary = 37K take-home pay - 50% expenses (keep the math simple) = ~18K savings 100K salary = 65k take-home-pay - 50% expenses = ~32K savings In my experience, even though the cost of living is higher, the salary-to-expenses ratio is roughly the same (give or take a few K). In other words, even if I have to pay $2500/mo for my 1BR apartment in San Francisco, and my monthly expenses reach $4000, I'm still saving at least $1000/mo, which is more than I'd be able to save making a comparable salary (~40K) back home in Alabama.