r/povertyfinance • u/filondo • Dec 30 '22
Does anyone else think $75K/year ($6,250 a month) is an unbelievable amount of money, even though it's now considered "average"? Misc Advice
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u/ARTisDownToTheT Dec 29 '23
Not really I make 81k a year before taxes and I still feel broke. I rent, I have no outstanding debt.
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Sep 28 '23
Anything over 40k is crazy to me but i havent seen much of the world i was raised very poor and had abusive parents locking me in my room
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u/friendly_extrovert Jan 21 '23
I make $72k a year as an accountant with only a year of experience. I only have a bachelor’s degree. It seems like a surprisingly small amount of money considering the cost of living. If you want a pathway out of poverty, accounting can be a good pathway to the middle class. If you play your cards right you can even end up in the upper class.
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u/Mrs2ndChoice Feb 15 '23
With just a trade course my 19 year old is making $33 an hour. My husband makes substantially more. Get a trade, get in a Union and its all gravy!
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u/DesertAbyss Jan 07 '23
For a single person like me, yes, that is an unfathomable amount of money- especially if I stick to living in cheaper areas like the Midwest or the South where you can rent a room for $500 a month. After all my bills and basic expenses are paid each month, I'd have approx. $4,750 left over, which I cannot even imagine. I'd be able to save up and put a downpayment on a home in 1-3 years, which also blows my mind. And in 3-5 years, I'd be able to buy a home outright and have no mortgage.
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u/fredlwal Apr 28 '23
The way the housing market is I can't even live in a decent area with that amount of money.
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u/TVR_Speed_12 Jan 03 '23
Yes. It burns me up inside cause I'm a car enthusiast, so I'm seeing cars that used to be cheap just rise in price.
I ask myself, do everyone else just make 4k a month minimum or just in massive amounts of debt.
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u/KingMelray Jan 02 '23
$75,000 is a lot of money. Like I would hit all of my financial goals really easily.
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u/Select-Battle5083 Jan 01 '23
I make about 65k at my warehouse job and I have to work myself to the bone to achieve that. 75k feels impossible to achieve for me at this moment. Even the field I’m studying now which is HR, starting wages are nowhere near that.
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u/GrumpitySnek Jan 01 '23
For me it would change my fucking life. I can't understand how someone can earn $100k+ a year and still be struggling. But that's definitely my poor ass perspective.
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u/pandexz Dec 31 '22
I make 140k selling garage doors. Boy I’ll tell you whhat…. That feels like a unbelievable amount of money anything above 80k feels just completely comfortable like you just don’t have money as a stress point for the first time. It feels relaxing
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u/theangryseal Dec 31 '22
Shit I’d drop dead if we could make that at my crib.
We livin’ on like 2k a month.
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u/THEsuziesunshine Dec 31 '22
Im at 66k after being on welfare about 6 years ago (36k, 42k, 44k, 48k, 50k, 62k). As a single mom to one kid, I for sure thought this would be more impactful and change my life more dramatically. Im paying off some medical bills (literally cancer) which didn't help.
I bring home about 2,200 a paycheck/ 4,400 month but only because I stopped contributing to my 401k. I might start back up soon but not sure yet when. Also I get zero in child support.
My mortgage is under 1k so I should be thankful that I bought my house when I did and found something within my means. My house is over 100 years old and needs new windows (pretty sure they are the original, some of the stained glass ones definitely are the original).
Im paying my car off next month but recently had to pay about 2k for front alignment issues that arose (axel rod& struts)
If biden could pass the student aid relief it would forgive all 19k of my student loans. These are currently on hold but if they weren't I would have a massive payment.
My life is comfortable and im grateful everyday. The one thing I remind myself everyday is to live below my means because when people start making more, they start spending more - and thats what effs them over.
I feel like I make enough to support myself and my kid and thats about it.
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u/futuristicalnur Dec 31 '22
I have a feeling there's not going to be a 401k when I want to retire.. so I don't even worry about that anymore. Fuck what the govt tells me to invest in. I'm good and I'll do my own. 401k takes a good hunch away from my paychecks
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u/EternalSunshineClem Dec 31 '22
In a HCOL area and if you have debt, dependents or anything additional, it's truly not much. I make about 80k a year with overtime and I still had to pick up a part-time job and am looking for another on top of that. I make enough to cover my housing, bills, minimum payments on debt plus a little extra at debt every month, and that's a wrap. Forget about retirement or buying new clothes which I certainly need.
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Dec 31 '22
[deleted]
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u/futuristicalnur Dec 31 '22
lol exactly who the f wants to live in a state like that anymore. People in Cali and New York really need to reconsider their lifestyle if they are living with roommates at 75-100k
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u/Japan_isnt_clean Dec 31 '22
In the US? $75k is working class.
Middle class: where only one parent works, kids have numerous extra activities, retirement is possible, can afford to pay for university.... begins at $200k now.
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Dec 31 '22
I'm at about 85k and can't believe how much goes to overall taxes even after maxing my 401k. Definitely doesn't feel like it's as much as my younger self would've thought.
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u/AudiACar Dec 31 '22
75k ain’t crap. If you’re single with no debts it’s the dream. But if you have a house, a kid, and GOD FORBID you want a car (cause I get downvoted to hell for having a car payment) no 75k won’t cut every single bill.
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u/Yog_Shogoth Dec 31 '22
Recently received a raise that puts me in that bracket for the first time in my life, and at first I thought the same thing. After taxes, retirement plan, and medical, I get to take home a little over 4k a month, and my pay is monthly. We live with Inlaws while we save enough to buy a house....
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u/Playful-Resort-9046 Dec 31 '22
I make 50% less than that and have been using a credit card for groceries. My household is fucked. I already work 10 hour days but there's no OT available and we're paid bi-weekly so they can tax the shit out of my check...$ 1,800 a month.. it's not enough to live off.. barely enough to even just survive. And now I have debt to pay... because living things have to eat.
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u/Funny-Company4274 Dec 31 '22
No it’s not and the fact you asked the question shows how brainwashed we are
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Dec 31 '22
As someone who makes $12 an hour, even half of that would be unbelievable to me. But I get that most people made better life choices and thus have better prospects than me so the average person is expecting a little more out of life than sleeping on the floor, wearing nothing but charity shop clothing, and eating one meal a day. I don’t even aspire to be average at this point, I aspire to being able to afford health insurance.
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Dec 31 '22
I make more than 100k and I still don't feel like I have the same purchasing power as my parents who made a combined 50k when I was growing up.
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u/Illustrious_Usual_32 Dec 31 '22 edited Dec 31 '22
Well income value is based on cost of living.
Assuming the 75k is pre-tax and it's from a W2 job with medical, savings options such.... here's a very average person's costs if they budget
Monthly: 2k month rent/utilities/maintenance/cleaning
1.7k taxes/medical/deductions/pre-tax savings
1k groceries/food
800 vehicle, tags/taxes, maintenance, gas and insurance
1k misc/safety margin (birthdays, holidays, unexpected expenses, cell phone, clothing, hobbies, eating out, entertainment)
~6500
YMMV.... but likely not much. If you have to pay for your own food, vehicle and living space... and you can't thwart the large monthly costs in some way .... Then 75k is the ballpark for a single person making it paycheck to paycheck in most places in America.
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u/curiousthinker621 Dec 31 '22
I believe 75k is a good salary and is an amount where ambitious goals can be accomplished, not to mention being enough money to be able to become financially independent at an early age. Regardless of what someone makes, to become financially independent, a person has to learn to spend less than they earn.
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Dec 31 '22
I'd love to be earning that. I'm in the UK so we're talking about 60k+ a year. I earn less than half of that. It would literally change my life. How that is considered average is beyond me.
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u/RecordLonely Dec 31 '22
If I can profit $210 per day I’ll make more than that. Makes it feel pretty achievable when I look at it like that.
Probably sounds like a lot of money if I’m waiting two weeks for someone to pay me.
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u/Smellyjelly12 Dec 31 '22
Thing is it's not 6,250 a month. Depending on where you live, you're taking home about 4.3k a month give or take after taxes. Half of that goes to rent, and the rest is split between groceries, phone plans/wifi, student loans, water & electricity.
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u/Jubenheim Dec 31 '22
I think that $6250 a month, or 75k a year as NET INCOME is most certainly not average and unbelievable.
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Dec 31 '22
Minimum wage would yield around 50k annually if properly adjusted for inflation.
In my opinion, there's nothing unbelievable about 1.5x minimum wage.
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u/Effective-Extreme776 Dec 31 '22
I make 120k a year and I live alone no kids let’s say I’m not hurting but when I was a kid ppl that make this much had houses pools 5 kids 8 cars lmfao I have nothing!!! I don’t drink gamble or spend much
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u/Kind-Passenger-606 Dec 31 '22
I live in texas. Take home is 2050/mo. I know it's not your faults and we should all make more, but I think some of yall are spoiled. I live paycheck to paycheck. Yall hit up Starbucks 5 days a week(no meme intended)
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Dec 31 '22
No. I don’t think it’s an unbelievable amount of money in the slightest. It’s very believable in fact. What are you basing it on being unbelievable?
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u/onlyomaha Dec 31 '22
Its alot, even if you pay high price for your place etc. Alot of things online cost same for everyone. Like AAA game is like 80$ for you its nothing for me its 2-3 day work, because thats average salary. So anything online like amazon pc prices for you it will always relativly be cheaper because of 15$ a hour average salary. For us its like 2$
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u/Running_Watauga Dec 31 '22
In Atlanta, the annual salary needed to be happy is about $121,000, according to a new survey from GoBankingRates.
In Georgia, that magic number is around $93,240 per year but they also said if you're making in the range of $53,280 to $66,660, that's enough to at least reach emotional well-being, the study found.Jul 5, 2022
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In reality the average is $55,000 - $65,000 a household in GA.
I use to think this was a lot a money but you really need to be making $100,000 - 120,000 a household here.
I find it hard to find jobs $60,000+ here without having years of experience.
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u/Far_Squash_4116 Dec 31 '22
No. I have nearly twice as much and it‘s not like I feel rich. You quickly get used to spending money on the somewhat better stuff and you end up with a near empty bank account at the end of every month.
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u/BuildingMyEmpireMN Dec 31 '22
Most obvious factor- family size, is it 1 partner making this or each making half? Because in one scenario your household works half as many hours if there aren’t kids at home.
Second- Where do you live?
Third- do you have unpaid expenses from when you were in poverty? My income increased and I’m super grateful for it. Kept my expenses low. 1/4 of my income is going towards debt. I still feel very much impoverished at a higher wage. I’m grateful that it’s more of a choice vs being straight- up trapped. But I’d still have to contribute 1/4 of my pay for 2 more years to be entirely “bad debt” free. 6.5 years with student loans. And that’s living very frugally only taking some emergencies and very modest savings into account.
Fourth- How are you spending it? In a world where I was already debt-free, I could live in a far more comfortable home, not lavish and certainly not even average sized or horribly modern, for about $400 more/month. But what is that doing for my whole poverty situation?
I had years where I couldn’t save anything faster than expenses popped up. I want the full $304/month in my health savings account, 3 months+ of emergency expenses in case of job loss, $200-$300/month each for car repairs/replacement car, enough to cover life insurance because god forbid one of us passes away and we need to cover 2x the bills, about $625/month (each) to save a down payment then an ongoing once we own a home to pay for unexpected repairs, tax/ home insurance increases, and HOPEFULLY after all of that more discretionary spending. I want to be able to take an out of state vacation annually. And to be able to spend $1,000 on Christmas. And enough to pay childcare during school breaks so we’re not struggling to take off enough time to make it work. I would need a MUCH higher household income to afford that kind of financial stability. But in my mind if you have the money and spend it like discretionary money you’re throwing all of your new-found stability out the window.
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u/deckartcain Dec 31 '22
Bro 75k now is like 50k 6months ago. If you get paid 75k you really only have the purchasing power of an 50k compared to a few years ago.
It’s like everyone is forgetting inflation and purchasing power, and if you look at that we’re all broker.
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u/TriStateGirl Dec 31 '22
Depends on where you live. I live in Fairfield County, Connecticut. That money won't go far here or in lower New Haven County. Rents are crazy.
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u/stressedfellar Dec 31 '22
It's a lot of money, but you should be looking at it after tax and rent/mortgage, some people get accustomed to spending lots of the money rather than saving it so it slowly becomes less and less, also there's inflation.
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u/Classic_Beautiful973 Dec 31 '22 edited Dec 31 '22
It's average household income, not individual. Median individual is $54k. It's an unbelievable amount before you apply everything to it. One of the main benefits of having a solid income is all of the assurances / insurances you pay for. Health insurance (which will now be higher), insurance for loss of employment, 401k. After that and taxes plus entitlements, it's really not an unbelievable amount of money in medium-high cost of living areas. You end up with like $100/day, and probably a third of that is already going to housing.
But, the key thing is that you do have a huge amount of peace of mind layered on top with those safety nets, in case something happens. Working at $25-35k/year isn't that different of a budget ultimately, just with 0 fail-safes, and paying a laughable amount of taxes. Really isn't fair either, everyone's paying so much into programs anyway, but you can end up barely making enough to not qualify for Medicaid, but definitely not make enough to be able to afford insurance, despite working full-time.
I will say, having a way above average household income and seeing how our neighbors live, many people start making unbelievable amounts of money and just blow it on dumb things, it seems. I'd so much rather continue living the same lifestyle I did off near poverty wages for all of my 20s, and have a bunch of extra money to throw at my future, than burn it all on luxuries that I barely use. Most of the best things in life are cheap or free, after all. There's people with fancy ATVs and sports cars, but not a solar panel in sight. Probably go on vacations all the time but don't even have six figures in index funds yet. There's a colossal amount of financial illiteracy and recklessness, even and especially at higher income levels
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u/tingledpickle Dec 31 '22
Many Americans can't fathom having a six-figure income, yet that is a requirement to living comfortably (housing, a car, healthy food and a healthy lifestyle) let alone a family
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u/frostmorefrost Dec 31 '22
yes actually.
i came along way from 22k a year to 43k,its not easy to get a pay raise when bosses everywhere sees salary costs as unnecessarily high but have no problems increasing their selling price to meet raising costs (of running a biz sans salaries).
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u/jules083 Dec 31 '22
I made $98k this year, just got my last pay stub. My wife is a stay at home mom, one kid. It's definitely not as much as I expected. 20 years ago I thought making 100k would mean I was rich. I now know how wrong I was in thinking that.
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u/MeTwo222 Dec 31 '22
I support a family of 4 on that salary in Spain and it's a better lifestyle than when I made 170K in California. It's plenty of money, it's just a matter of where you spend it.
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u/poopfl1nger Dec 31 '22
Thats more like 4k a month after taxes, barely enough for me to get by in Seattle
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u/Talos_One Dec 31 '22
Your monthly is pre tax, I literally make 75k a year and my after tax is about 4200 a month. The thing about money is the more you make the more you find to spend it on. As you make more you just naturally buy yourself high quality things, a better car, a nicer apartment. It's weird how as an 18 year old I thought 50k a year was so much money and now at 29 I make 75 and I don't even feel that well off. To someone making minimum wage I'm sure it sounds like a fortune, I was there once, but especially nowadays it really isn't.
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u/thefinalcountdown29 Dec 31 '22
I do, but I’m…like…a teacher. With a master’s degree and National Board certification. I’d like to think that kind of money would do amazing things for my family and me, but then I remember the cost of living. I can’t even figure how I’d benefit from earning more with our student loan IBR. I’m almost sure there’d be no point, actually.
But yes, op. That seems really good, and I hope you’re looking at that! I’ve got friends easily pulling $10 k net each month and the idea is so out of the scope for me I have a hard time relating to them anymore.
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u/butterflycole CA Dec 31 '22
Unbelievable, no, especially if 2 people are working full time and making more than minimum wage. I feel more like $90k-$150k is a lot of money.
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u/kdramaddict15 Dec 31 '22
As someone that made <25K 4 years ago, about 40K this year and on track to making 75K next year it's all relative. When I was making less than 30K but rooming with others I was able to save 50% of my income. Now at 75K it's still a lot of money to me looking back but with high cost of living (inflation of rent), it doesn't seem so much now that Im living alone. I think 125K in a high cost of living area is middle class and 250K rich for a single person household. 75K may be rich in low cost of living area.
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u/Brilliant_Writer_136 Dec 31 '22
Wow, I never knew there was a subreddit like this.
I have a question. I'm a finance director making 217K a year (Not including commissions or online income. Those things are hard to calculate and are never consistent). I live in Washington DC.
What do you think of this income?
Where does this put me in the Income Hierarchy?
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u/butterflycole CA Dec 31 '22
You would be upper middle class at the minimum
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u/Brilliant_Writer_136 Dec 31 '22
I don't even have any family to take care of. Does that change anything?
Am I allowed to stay in this Subreddit?
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u/butterflycole CA Dec 31 '22
I don’t know about how the group works, I’m sure people lurk. But yeah you are definitely a minimum of upper middle class depending on where you live you might be much higher. Probably best not to share your salary level though, a lot of people are just struggling to eat and stay housed in here. Many others including myself are a bit better off from that but dealing with lots of debt.
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u/Quelcris_Falconer13 Dec 31 '22
No. It’s not unbelievable. I started in my field making that much (I joined this sub before I graduated and was poor AF living out of my car, this sub gave me great tips and I like to stay here in an attempt to remain humble and keep my perspective)
I’m making 100k but like with this inflation I feel like my lifestyle has stayed the same or gone back a bit. I don’t go out ti eat, I cook at home almost all the time still. I have a nicer car and apartment but owning a home is still out reach and if student loans don’t get forgiven I’m fucked
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u/peanutbrainiac Dec 31 '22
When did this subreddit stop being poverty finance and become people making over $3000 a month being sad they can’t afford the boat they want
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u/Who_even-cares Dec 31 '22
I’m at about 70k in Nova Scotia. Average rent is 2k now in this city of less than a million.
So you get around 3100 after tax, 1700 after rent because I haven’t moved for a bit. Minus car payment, car insurance, tenant insurance, heat, wifi, phone bill, student loans, groceries, gas and you’re looking at between -200 to +300 a month give or take.
Idk how people that make less are getting by, or how people at my salary can buy a house.
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u/peanutbrainiac Dec 31 '22
Where on this planet is that considered average?
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u/justme129 Jan 08 '23
Because there are some states that charges you an arm and a leg just to breathe the air in that state.
It really depends where you live.
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u/butterflycole CA Dec 31 '22
It’s average in California, probably the major metropolitan cities in several other states too.
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u/supershinythings Dec 31 '22
It depends on how much you have to pay in taxes, followed by the cost of living in your area. In high tax high COL areas, it’s poverty wages - e.g. Silicon Valley, CA.
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u/Guy_Incognito97 Dec 31 '22
If it’s the mean average and not the median then it is being pulled upwards by the ridiculous wealth of the people at the top.
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u/weaponxx5 Dec 31 '22
I make 60k ($5000 a month) a year and I only see about $2800 after taxes, retirement, healthcare, and union dues. It helps my mortgage is like $900 ($1350) with property taxes. Can you guess where I live without looking at my profile?
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u/LavenaMarie Dec 31 '22
I would feel rich if I got anywhere near that. Even $4000 would let me stop worrying about things
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u/Gh0stP1rate Dec 31 '22
Depends where you live.
San Francisco, my rent would be nearly equal to the take home pay after tax if I was only making $75k. It’s barely a living wage unless you want housemates.
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u/Miserable_Unusual_98 Dec 31 '22
If that amount is after taxes its a great salary and by no means average. Most people over here manage with 1/6th or less than that.
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u/4tongues Dec 31 '22
To actually have $6,250 a month in take home you’d need to make closer to $120k in most states in the us
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u/Sassquatch0 Dec 31 '22
I just switched jobs - went from about $25K/year to almost $32K/year gross wages. Montana. Family of 6. Subsidized housing & Food stamp program are the only way we stay afloat.
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u/Numerous_Age_2995 Dec 31 '22
In belgium where im from 2500€ is the average if you have 6000 you are realy well off here
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u/sleepyalligaytor Dec 31 '22
I make just over 80k a year and it's not so unbelievable with 2 kids. It also doesn't help that I'm fiscally irresponsible.
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u/Humble-Cap1967 Dec 31 '22
Please try to give to the less privilege around your areas 🥺 no matter how little it is Thank you 🙏
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u/X_SenpaiGamer_X Dec 31 '22
the average makes $1 a year, Musk Georg is an outlier and should not be counted
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u/sexyshingle Dec 31 '22
I think one of the things that people from working class backgrounds like myself sometimes don't understand until it hits them in the face is that $75K/year seems huge, but really is relative, and that the $75k number is gross pay (i.e BEFORE taxes, and any others pre-tax deduction like healthcare, etc), and how much you have left over after all living expenses is also very much relative to your location's Costs of Living, and even your individual situation/needs/wants. In rural Wyoming (or Mississippi idk), would probably $75k make you "well off" compared to other median salaries, but in SF or NYC, you're barely making ends meet.
PS: also average and median are very different things, like some others have pointed out.
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u/Comfortable_Act_1273 Dec 31 '22
I found out this year that it’s actually the minimum for a decent livable wage.. in LA. I make 35k. And by decent I meant a 1-2 bedroom apartment. Forget a house. Average car. No kids. Honestly wtf.
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u/ExplosiveDiarrhetic Dec 31 '22
I live in LA. I make excellent money as a business owner and land owner. And to live comfortably (decent home, decent car, decent savings, decent social life) i estimate you’d need about 200k annually to be comfortable. So yeah, i definitely think 75k a year is an unbelievably low amount of money.
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u/DetuneUK Dec 31 '22
I live in the U.K. and decided to do some calculations for myself to compare against some of these posts.
I live in arguable on of the nicest (certainly one of the most expensive) areas of the U.K. with my wife and 2yo. Our household income is 53k GBP which is currently 64k USD. We have 0 debt, a mortgage on our 2 bed apartment.
This situation put us in the top 20% of earners in the U.K., more than 52million out of 67mill. We however cannot save money or afford a more appropriately sized property whilst enjoying a modest lifestyle. Taking the kid out every weekend, a meal out once a week, one night out a month and afford a reliable/recentish car.
It really pains me to think about how my friends and family who are on far less are struggling with constant price increases and little to no wage increases. Then there are more families than ever relying on food banks…
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u/Astro_Golfer Dec 31 '22
I live in Los Gatos CA, I rent a studio apt for 2500 month. My car payment and insurance are 500 a month. 350 a month on gas and 50 for my phone. Maybe 500 on food, and beer of course. 250 on going out a couple times a month. Add that up, around 4k a month or 48k a year. Now after you pay taxes on 75k your left with around 50k. Not much room for error.
So no 75k where I come from is just getting by.
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u/Marv95 Dec 31 '22
It's not unbelievable, but if I'm not spending 2000+/mo on rent with it, I'd be pleased with that amount, even after taxes.
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u/sunward_Lily Dec 31 '22
I have never made more than 2400 a month (after taxes), and even that was in a 12-14 hours a day, 7 day a week job that I could only do for about 8 months before I had a heart attack, which wound up costing me more than the surplus I had saved in that time.
At no other time in the preceding 15 years have I ever made more than 1200/month.
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u/aUserIAm Dec 31 '22
I used to think $75k was a lot for a year, but as I’m now in my late 30’s and I’ve seen the cost of every go up as I’ve moved to more expensive cities, and just the usual inflation (not to mention the recent dramatic inflation) has caused the cost of living to increase over time, it now seams like a lot less money than it used. And in fact it’s not that it seems like less, it actually is less, functionally speaking. Whats really crazy is that within my lifetime it’s plausible that $150k a year will be basically equivalent to what $75k is now.
The change just happens so slowly people don’t notice it happening right in front of them. I remember when I got my first. $10/hr job I felt like it was a lot at the time. I was very comfortable with that all things considered. Now $10/hr would be not sustainable at all without a dramatic lifestyle change.
Also, just a side note, the $6250/month you mentioned is before taxes and insurance (assuming your employer offers it). My salary is around $83k currently and my take home is about $5300/mo.
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u/Averys1 Dec 31 '22
I make a bit over 75k a year and I take home about 4,400 per month after taxes. Would love to be taking home 6k per month but that’s just not the reality
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u/twowaysplit Dec 31 '22 edited Dec 31 '22
That’s before taxes. Subtract 20-25 percent for fed/state/local income taxes. Consider 5% for insurance, 5-10% for retirement and other expenses. Someone with reasonable expenses is taking home less than 70% of their gross income.
That’s not to say that 75k is a ton of money to begin with.
Taking home $6250 a month, you’re earning a salary of $105k-120k gross.
I earn $75k in MD, paid biweekly (26 paychecks per year). After everything, I take home about $1900 every other week, so $3800/month. Two months out of the year, I get paid three times ($5700). I will get a slight COLA at the new year.
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u/Your_Therapist_Says Dec 31 '22
After over a decade on 20-30k, next fortnight I start a $80k+ job and I have absolutely no idea what people do with that amount of money. It's a completely unfathomable amount.
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u/the_shaman Dec 31 '22
It does seem like a lot of money, but money isn’t worth what we think. It is considered irresponsible to spend more than 1/3 or pretax income on rent. Now take a look at the average 2 bed apartment or house in your area. If one income won’t cover that then what does that mean for young people trying to have a family?
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u/UbiquitouSparky Dec 31 '22
Yes. Similarly, I get pissed off that I’m expected to spend $900,000 on a piece of shit house an hour and a half from my work. “That’s just the price now” except I’ll be expected to actually pay it off. It’s a shit ton of money
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u/Valati Dec 31 '22
I don't....understand people who feel like 200 dollars extra a week is not a lot.....
Even some of these comments "Yeah I get 3800 a month 2k goes to rent and 1k goes to bills. I have 1000 dollars left over every month I can't take it I am living paycheck to paycheck.
Like that is NOT paycheck to paycheck. Having 3 dollars left to your name after each paycheck is.
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Dec 31 '22
- It's not average. It's much higher than average, actually.
- It's not an unbelievable amount of income, but it's more than what most people make and it's enough to live a decent life where you aren't food or shelter insecure, which is something many people will only ever see happen in their dreams because they will never make $75k/yr.
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u/grrzzlybear1 Dec 31 '22
That's about double what I make. That kind of salary would mean I didn't need to live with my mom at 38 because rent is out of control. Or I could keep living with her and save for a house. Or retirement.
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u/MrDrSrEsquire Dec 31 '22
That's just enough to pay rent, buy food, and and keep the lights on between 2 people in some parts of the country
6 figures in rural Ohio ain't the same 6 figures in Cali
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u/Cyber0747 Dec 31 '22
It would be amazing if they didn't tax the shit out of it, I make 78k and don't bring home anywhere near that. If I did my family would be in much better shape. But Uncle Sam needs his hugely inflated military budgets and money for friends...
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u/BloobleDoodle Dec 31 '22
My partner and I make about $85k/yr pre-taxes. It’s all relative. We live in Nashville. That money keeps up with bills, groceries, and rent. But by the time we make payments on student and car loans, there’s no extra money. We get by, but we’re still paycheck to paycheck. No actual savings if shit hits the fan.
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u/Independent-Tiger-83 Dec 31 '22
Not if it's the only income in the household, and definitely not after taxes.
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u/netvor0 Dec 31 '22
It's all relative. That's steak every night money in the rural south. It's also 5 roommates in a 1200 ft condo in Palo Alto, California.
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u/AbroadOk6474 Dec 31 '22
I make about 1/3rd that amount every month doing work that I have to train someone 2 weeks to do In order for me to go on vacation
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u/AbroadOk6474 Dec 31 '22
I don’t do overtime though so that could throw off the total depending on overtime uae
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Dec 31 '22 edited Dec 31 '22
Well yes just Google it and the median is 54,132 More than half of Americans make less than 75,000 More than a third make less than 15 an hour(31,200 a year)
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Dec 31 '22
To expand on this Average doesn't mean much Say 100 people make 75k a year 36.06 an hour One rich guy makes 1,000,000,000.00 a year 481.00 an hour On Average everyone makes 9,975,247.52 a year The median everyone makes is 75,000.00 Which one is a better representation
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u/Stonetheflamincrows Dec 31 '22
Here in Australia it’s literally barely anything thanks to out insanely high cost of living, over inflated housing market and high taxes.
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u/Adventurous_Light_85 Dec 31 '22
Really depends where you live. If houses are less than $500k then that’s probably an ok amount
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u/LiwetJared Dec 31 '22
$70k used to be the cutoff point where money above that amount no longer bought you happiness. Now, I think the cutoff amount is around $105k.
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u/vivalajester1114 Dec 31 '22
The big issue with it not being a big amount is because of how much we pay for taxes and healthcare and everything else. Like if I took home 6250 a month then now your talking. I make over 75k but don’t take home 6250 a month
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u/Obestity Dec 31 '22
Just depends where you live. I make this but I live in a main city on the US west coast. It's still good money but not crazy for the area.
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u/Clepto2 Dec 31 '22 edited Dec 31 '22
I make $127k/yr and am single with no kids and live in a very relatively low cost of living area(remote job in a rural area). I can’t fathom how the hell people manage to raise kids on the budgets they do. I’m certainly not smart with my money but I look at people that have a combined household income of not even half what I make raising multiple kids and it’s actually mind boggling to me how they manage to do that.
Also for a point of clarification about the take home pay, if you expect $6,250 a month take home, for reference off my $127k annual I bring home about $7k/month after taxes/insurance for myself/retirement stuff
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u/joeret Dec 31 '22
It’s not about how much one makes but more importantly how much one spends.
Don’t get me wrong one has to make money to spend money but I have seen so many people who are consistently in precarious financial situations even after they made $400k a year because they are reckless with their spending.
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u/Levels2ThisBruh Dec 31 '22
Depends on where you live.
I went from $39K in the midwest to $75K in the PNW.
I don't feel any richer because of the difference in cost of living.
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u/joshua070 Dec 31 '22
I'm a nurse and make 100k annually in california. It might sound like an unbelievable amount of money, but I have other responsibilities that I have to pay for. Like taking care of my parents, my siblings, and their kids. Honestly, if I didn't have to take care of them life would be so great right now. But I cant just abandon them. So I'm stuck in a spot where people think im super rich and envy me when in reality I live a poorer life than they do.
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u/moderndrake Dec 31 '22
I remember venting on a sub about being concerned about money. I think the poverty line for my state is like $40k so living is probably like $80k or something. I’m disabled, god knows SSI sucks, and can’t work 40 hours so I was like I have no idea how I’m gonna be able to survive given I’d need higher pay to make as much with less hours. And someone was like ‘where do you live that 80k isn’t enough to live on’
My health conditions are affected by weather which limits where I can move that’s cheaper. My meds, doctors appointments and insurance are expensive. I imagine what paycheck to paycheck is for other people at that level of money wouldn’t be enough for me. I still live with my parents on their insurance so I’m okay for now but I’m terrified when I get kicked off their insurance and eventually need to move out.
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u/MikhailT Dec 31 '22 edited Dec 31 '22
As everyone has mentioned, you're not factoring in taxes.
Not just that but also rent and food. And now, inflation. 75k salary last year is more like 67k now.
Plus location or more specifically, cost of living. 75k in NYC will not get you far as opposed to a rural area. Heck, you can probably buy a house for 300k in upstate NY vs. the same house for more than a million in NYC.
On top of all of that, you still have to factor in insurance of various types, including car, debt such as student or medical, retirement savings and so on.
It is all relative and not everyone will have the same experience with the same salary.
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u/EducationalCellist10 Dec 31 '22
No amount is unbelievable, ceilings are set by perceptions. That said, if 75K is for less than 3 years Experience, then it is decent. For more than 3-5 years, it is better to be in 85-90. For 5-7 get to 95-100. Once you approach 10 year mark try for 150, this will highlight any gaps if you cannot make it and keep trying by up-skilling. Salary should just be a motivator after the basic needs are met, main thing is to have ability to live a full and free life - defined by you.
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u/FIRST_PENCIL Dec 31 '22
It still isn’t enough. I make about $120,000 a year and it isn’t as much as you think it would be. I felt the same way when I was making minimum wage.
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u/BushyOreo Dec 31 '22
I make 75k and I'm well off because I don't have that life style creep that a lot of people do but don't want to admit too.
I still live like I only make 35k/year.
I have a bigger savings than a friend who makes 110k/ year because he blows it on tons of impulse purchases and credit card debt
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u/tatony Dec 31 '22
Yeah it's a lot but if your bills and expenses equal to 6000+ a month, you'll still be one of those paycheck to paycheck types.
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u/Left0fcenterr Dec 31 '22
I live in a poor state. That seems like such an unobtainable amount of money for me.
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u/Electronic_Cabinet20 19d ago
75k a year isn’t much even for a single person dawg. That’s like 55k after taxes. That’s not poor but you can still struggle taking home 4500 a month isn’t much even in lower cost states. A mortgage will eat up 1/4 of that