Current Events > The bar has become that low; Americans now say $128k a year is enough

(+) Yeah! (+)

to be financially okay....

https://twitter.com/Quicktake/status/1481740106172149765

That's a weirdly specific number but it's also a good salary for most parts of the country. You can live a lot of places comfortably with like $50k/year

gotta get a new iphone and a new car every year

lilORANG posted...

That's a weirdly specific number

The format was probably asking "how much would you need to be OK" then averaging the responses to the nearest thousand dollars

The regional differences in cost of living is so great that its just impossible to generalize all americans on the same financial thresholds. In california 128k might get by. In the bumfuck south you'll be living like a king on the same amount.

I live somewhat comfortably on about 30k(Albiet I live in walking distance of work so no car, have a roommate and no loans)

Im doing just fine on ~$35,000 a year. People need to learn to live within their means.

Of course, I absolutely would not say no to that salary

$128k per year would be phenomenal for me. Currently at $60k per year and after factoring in bills and other costs of living, I get about $1k per month for free spending.

lilORANG posted...

You can live a lot of places comfortably with like $50k/year

this is becoming less and less true, I'd guess

It's like the old Euphemism goes, you gotta "Live within your memes".

If I made $128k a year I would probably retire in like 10. That would sure be lovely.

Before or after tax

Kloe_Rinz posted...

Before or after tax

During.

128k is or was upper middle class then I guess is just middle classs now. Still can be a lot of momey depending on your expenses. Our income is 70ishk and we are very comfortable, but we only have one kid, one car payment and a 880 mortgage.

lilORANG posted...

You can live a lot of places comfortably with like $50k/year

This. A lot of people don't factor in cost of living.

My job wanted me to relocate to their Manhattan office a few years ago, and were going to throw in a 5% pay raise. I did the math and even with the 5% raise, the higher cost of living in NYC (compared to the south hills of Pittsburgh) turned out to be like a 25%-30% downgrade in quality of life. My cousin who was an attorney living in an apartment in Manhattan at the time, even with her success and law degree, her apartment could fit in the furnished basement of my house. Fuckkkk that (she now lives in a nice house in Jersey so it worked out well for her in the long run, that commute into Manhattan is still killer though)

I'm close to that and it is definitely enough to live comfortably in a HCOL area unless it's California. Even for the most taxable scenario where you're single homeowner with no dependents, and health/dental/vision/etc insurance deductions and a 401k that would be like $65-75k a year net

Kaiganeer posted...

gotta get a new iphone and a new car every year

rexcrk posted...

Im doing just fine on ~$35,000 a year. People need to learn to live within their means.

Of course, I absolutely would not say no to that salary

lol I love these ridiculous comments suchs as this

depends where you live, but $128k seems high in many parts of the US and low in the big city.

Good lord CE must live in the slums of like Arkansas if these numbers are "comfortable".

My wife and I do okay, but that's like twice as much as we make combined. Cost of living is low here. >_>

Depends on where you live really. My wife and I make about 90k to 95k combined a year and we live about in the suburbs right outside of Saint Louis and live a decent middle class life. But we don't have kids. Once you add kids to the mix your cost of living skyrockets.

MutantJohn posted...

Good lord CE must live in the slums of like Arkansas if these numbers are "comfortable".

Probably

Or they consider renting a room and eating ramen "live with in your means" comfortable, they're not talking about financially secure or anything like that.

Yeah usa is expensive country. A few of my relatives came over for holidays and mentioned that stuffs here are way more expensive

That's about how much I made last year. I have a ton of disposable income and no car payment. Life is pretty good.

125k in my area as a single person would be great lol. Even as a couple that isn't a bad salary at all

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


the living rent free part, for starters

Holy shit, I'd love to make 128k.

Would be nice to be able to buy a house.

I would be very, very happy with $128k a year. Even more so if that was US dollars.

It might not be enough to live on in the middle of the big cities, but it's plenty in the area I'm in.

Lot of people who have never lived outside one area love to say "Well you can live at x y z on beans"

That's close to my household income and yeah it's pretty much perfect. All your bills are paid and you have plenty of disposable income to enjoy life without constantly worrying about expenses.

Of course this wouldn't fly everywhere but works out in places where housing isn't absurdly expensive.

Maybe 2 people both making 128k here would be comfortable.

I guess if you never plan on owning a home you could be comfortable here on 1 salary.

My gf and I make way over $200k a year and it still seems too low. I do have 4 daughters though and child support.

Most of my friends make in the vicinity of $125k, but since they are single and don't have kids, they are in good shape.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

It isnt really an owning vs renting discussion. The same principle would apply to a mortgage. Its pretty obvious to say that everyone would be in much better shape if they didnt have debt and didnt have to pay for housing. That is where most peoples income goes to.

rexcrk posted...

Im doing just fine on ~$35,000 a year. People need to learn to live within their means.

Of course, I absolutely would not say no to that salary

It's virtually impossible for someone to survive on this pre-tax income and be comfortable.

The only way you're surviving on that is if you eat peanuts, rice, pasta, chop chicken, and other incredibly cheap food items, live in the absolute ghetto with rats in your house, drive a junked out vehicle, etc. This is such a stupid fucking post

rexcrk posted...

Im doing just fine on ~$35,000 a year. People need to learn to live within their means.

Of course, I absolutely would not say no to that salary

Depends where you live and circumstances.

People need to stop using the "I live on X. Why can't you" logic.

While true many live above their means, plenty also simply can't due to many factors.

Perascamin posted...

It's virtually impossible for someone to survive on this pre-tax income and be comfortable.

I'd say it's possible, but that poster is leaving out some very key details on why that salary is working out. Details not available to everyone.

t5yvxc posted...

I'd say it's possible, but that poster is leaving out some very key details on why that salary is working out. Details not available to everyone.

Yeah it's possible if you bought a house in the ghetto with mold and structural damage built circa 1930s

bsp77 posted...

My gf and I make way over $200k a year and it still seems too low. I do have 4 daughters though and child support.

Most of my friends make in the vicinity of $125k, but since they are single and don't have kids, they are in good shape.

Well yeah $200K a year isn't an endless bucket of money if you made a bunch of bad decisions in life.

keeping up with the jones, just a year or so ago $100k been the number

but of course inflation is crazy

Perascamin posted...

It's virtually impossible for someone to survive on this pre-tax income and be comfortable.

The only way you're surviving on that is if you eat peanuts, rice, pasta, chop chicken, and other incredibly cheap food items, live in the absolute ghetto with rats in your house, drive a junked out vehicle, etc. This is such a stupid fucking post

Not everyone loves in shitholes like California

How is that seeing the bar low? That's enough to be considered upper middle class, which is comfortable living.

PrsdntHeidecker posted...

Well yeah $200K a year isn't an endless bucket of money if you made a bunch of bad decisions in life.

I haven't made bad decisions. Unless you think that having 4 kids (with the same woman I was with for 20 years mind you) and then getting divorced due to growing incompatibility issues is a bad decision. If you think that, then that shows your character.