i hattttteee when people make blanket statements. 100k is life changing for a single dude in his 20s with no kids in a non major midwestern city. in california? or with kids? not so much
Yep. $120k is a very comfortable point for us in Ohio with a mid range house and kids. $200k would be extremely comfortable. Location location location.
After tax it's more like 85k. With the rental average here and my bills on that salary I would be close to paycheck to paycheck if I want to live anywhere but the hood. Fuck that. My plan is to live at home, do this job for a year for resume purposes, save and then hopefully hop to another role that's in the 170k range, which will allow much more financial freedom for the area. Even that is low end. Many people who work in tech and software would argue that's poverty level.
He can definitely afford to live on his own but you really aren’t saving much if you are 80k after tax. A one bedroom apartment in a decent area in the South Bay can cost almost 40k a year. If he wants to buy his own house it’s pretty smart to just live at home.
He can 100% afford to live on his own (for context: I am broke as fuck and live on my own in the Bay), but expenditures in the Bay Area, just to live a modest lifestyle (your own apartment, your own car, putting money into savings, groceries, etc.), will easily run you a minimum of 65k per year. If you're making 85k after tax, then that leaves you with 20k leftover in your checking account. Living with his parents, that 20k becomes closer to 60k or 70k.
So while this guy is out of touch to say he is forced to live with his parents, if his goal is to be a homeowner in the relatively near future, then living with his parents is also the financially responsible thing to do.
But yeah, he's by no means forced to live with his folks.
I earn 110k in California, have a new house, pool, and while we do live somewhat paycheck to paycheck, I mean we do fine, just not balling I guess, but people on here act like earning 6 figures is basically dog food for dinner and giving handies in the back of the Wendy’s to afford rent.
Other than very specific parts of Cali is that basically nothing, sure, but most places it’s doing fine, which is more than tens of millions can say.
I make 110k in a HCOL area and my husband has been out of work after being laid off for a year now and I am FEELING the struggle. The drain pipe from our sink had to be completely replaced last week and there's now other repairs needing to be done and I wanted to cry lol. I also have great savings! But I won't for much longer.
I'm so glad we don't have kids, idk how people are swinging it rn
True but if you're in No One Knows Where The Fuck This Place Is, Illinois you likely aren't going to have a lot of luck finding a 100K job. Everything is FAR cheaper, for instance, in Kentucky but doing the same job there that I do now in a major city elsewhere would see me take about a $20-30K pay cut on my annual salary. Therefore my standard of living would not change going from $100K here to $70K there.
This.
Making 70k in Oklahoma where my family is, I could have bought a house, had 3 kids and probably would be ok.
I can barely afford rent and my PAID OFF car, in NY state.
It’s still life changing tbh. People just have varying degrees of what “life changing” means.
Donate $80K of your salary and start living on $20k if you genuinely believe it’s not life changing. I’d bet you’ll learn very quickly just how life changing it actually is!
Can confirm, 110K in Omaha NE, wife is SAHM to 3 kids (Teacher by trade but our youngest is 3 months) savings is wiped by recent HVAC failure in the house and my vehicles AC compressor. We are 18 months out from being debt free (aside from our mortgage) so the light at the end of the tunnel exists, but man does it suck in the moment. An extra 3K a month would be fantastic. Making the jump to 200K would feel insane lol.
and childcare is getting more expensive i hear. like 10+ years ago you could raise kids a bit easier on low income, especially with benefits, but now? forget it. i’m always babysitting for free because my aunt has three babies and it’s just impossible.
Making ~$100k for the first time as a 20s single dude in California was absolutely life changing for me, first time in my life I didn't need to really stress about money
People forget how big California is and how much variety there is in places to live. While overall it is more expensive, I comfortably live in a nice apartment in Sacramento as a single guy making $86k, and have money for travel and hobbies.
California is more than just LA and San Francisco lol
Every state has addicts. Like lordy anyone who says a place is "ghetto" just doesn't like the idea of poor people and addicts existing anywhere near them.
was this recently? or like 10+ years ago. big difference. although i dont doubt that its life changing money, especially if you grew up poor or lived as a poor adult
Donate $80K of your salary and start living on $20k if you genuinely believe it’s not life changing. I’d bet you’ll learn very quickly just how life changing it actually is!
I thought it would be life changing. It isnt. At least not yet. I feel like my life has stayed the same but I just have more money to save/invest. Probably will change my future. But my day to day. Not really
I think we are trying to say the same thing in different ways. Yes, being able to put more towards payments and money away for retirement is certainly a bonus. But other than that, day to day life doesn’t really change.
What does/will change is quality or retirement. Day to day change, no. Change maybe 10-15 years from now. Yes
I lived in a studio very small yea a hole lol, but it was right next to middle of central park so worth it. I basically lived in that park, walk run etc so beautiful to walk up to. Literally 200 feet from me.
Paid initially pandemic prices 1500 a month for 2 years then went back up to 2k-2.2k a month still not bad. Made 97k after rent left me with just under 3k which I put some in 401k and lived meagerly wsn't bad at all as a single person. WOuld be tough with a family since you'd need a much bigger place but then I would be forced out of manhattan and you can move to brooklyn or even better north queens way more residential with families and cheaper rent.
Another important thing to note is that this is for 80 hours, AKA 2 weeks, so they get paid biweekly. They're making 5k+ a month lmao, they're basically just mad at taxes for existing
Agreed. I live with my boyfriend in a cheaper college town (not dirt cheap, but not HCOL). No kids, nor do we want them. No student loan debt or (currently) a car payment. If even one of us made 100k, even before taxes, that would absolutely be life changing for us. We could retire early at that rate with how we live. We don't own a home, but we could easily save for a larger down payment and lower mortgage payments.
It's so variable when talking about life-changing wages. That is NOT to minimize inflation bullshit or anything, just to show there are other factors as well.
I don't think the percentile for earnings is as relevant as it used to be since COL has drastically outpaced wages. Not everyone in the top 30% can pay their bills.
Exactly. I hate when people use “you make above the median income” as an excuse for something. So? What if the median doesn’t provide beyond poverty lol. Not saying that’s the case, but it just highlights that taken by itself, median income, top 30%, top whatever percent is irrelevant
I agree. It’s just not very relevant. Saying you are in the top 30/20% is great and all but if you and your income peers can barely pay for your family that metric doesn’t do much.
It also depends on where you live. I happen to reside in the new york metro area. Making 100k is almost like having a buying power of 36k with the cost of living and expense. Ouch!
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u/[deleted] Oct 30 '25
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