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Wednesday, March 13, 2024

It costs a lot to ‘live comfortably’ in California. Do you make enough?

Even if your paycheck is slightly larger this year, you may find yourself on a tight budget, with housing, groceries, and more still sporting high price tags. A recent survey shows most Americans can hardly afford a $1,000 emergency. 

Unsurprisingly, where you live can have an impact on the wiggle room — or lack of it — in your budget.

Personal finance site SmartAsset recently reviewed data from the MIT Living Wage Calculator, which estimates the living wage needed to support various family sizes across the country based on expenditure data for food, childcare, insurance, housing, transportation, and more. That data was then applied to a common budgeting method known as the 50/30/20 rule — 50% of your budget should cover your needs, 30% goes toward “wants,” and 20% for debt, saving, or investing — to find the pre-tax salary need to live comfortably in 99 of the nation’s largest cities.

4 comments:

  1. This excellent website compares cities or countries' cost of living. The only city 'numbeo' shows in Tennessee is Memphis, but it gives me an idea of what folks in 'The Volunteer State pay for milk vs. what I pay in the 'Aloha State.' We are paying double what Ken pays. How will I ever retire in Honolulu? Buy a cow. https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=United+States&country2=United+States&city1=Honolulu%2C+HI&city2=Memphis%2C+TN

    ReplyDelete
  2. Most of the people that do make enough have already left.

    I read just this morning that the 49ers lost a free agent to Dallas, where he won't be paying a 13.3% personal state income tax. When you're talking about a multi-million dollar contract that's a pretty good chunk of change he'll be saving.

    ReplyDelete
  3. And if you want to leave, Newsom has an "exit tax" just to add insult to injury.

    ReplyDelete
  4. If you're making $340,000 a year, you have the means to leave California and never look back. It's on you if you don't.

    ReplyDelete

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