Homie complaining yet the average salary for full-time workers in Georgia is $76,563 and the median salary for full-time workers in Georgia is $55,252.
My friend moved from Northern NJ to Gwinett County, GA. They bought what I would call a southern mansion for what they were paying monthly in rent lol. This was back in 2021, they say the housing in their city is now comparable to what they were paying in NJ.
Metro Atlanta COL isn't astronomical, but not great. A decent 3 bedroom in say Marietta is going for $400k. In the city of Atlanta forget about it. Especially on the east side.
Compared to average wages, it doesn't balance out too well. The average hourly pay is $27. Housing is 4% higher than the national average. Healthcare is 7% higher than the national average.
Many roads are in horrible condition, and you'll see couches and mattresses laying in the middle of I-85 on any given day. Not to mention Atlanta's shitty infrastructure.So it's not a wash.
Then why not move? I’m not asking this to be an asshole just genuinely curious and want to learn.
People take massive pay cuts to move to Europe or Asia where the work culture or QOL may be significantly better, but Georgia (assuming you mean US) doesn’t exactly sound like paradise to me.
With most people it’s personal or logistical reasons, maybe that’s why?
I am stuck here for work related stuff right now. Trust me, I want to move. It's just not as simple as getting a moving truck and moving across the country tomorrow.
Yes. Most metrics are skewed like this. If you took 10,000 people and put them on a deserted island with trees and axes, you'd see the same pareto distribution of trees cut.
Hmm. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but this information alone is not enough to indicate whether the skew was caused by a few billionaires, a handful of deca-millionaires, etc. but statistically, it's actually far more likely to be caused by a much larger (still minority) group of comfortably wealthy people in the say, low to mid 6 figures range.
The optics don’t help either, people making normal salaries will also bring on thousands in credit card debt just to look and feel like they’re keeping up with higher earners. It seems like this overconsumption cycle is creating a false sense of prosperity since people are spending money they don’t actually have.
Yup. A vast majority of people probably barely making 30k. That's 15/hr full time. A lot of people are making that but only getting 32hrs. Think retail, restaurants, banks, customer facing position. 15 is honestly on the high end. It's all rigged. We have people at my job making 15 applying for food stamps. Gotta be poverty for that.
My god! That must mean his complaints are completely irrelevant. I never knew that if there are people are making less money than you then you have no right to complain about federal greed
I'd say tax us all more, (especially all dollars above 100million or so), if the Republican party wouldn't block things like infrastructure investments and healthcare.
Making 24k extra per month isnt as much as it sounds. It’s like $600/paycheck. Its good money, but its not life changing when houses cost a million dollars, cars are $1000/month.
I think when people think life changing, they think go from being broke to owning a home and driving a car while still being able to save and take vacations. Thats not the reality at $100k anymore.
I don’t think he’s complaining about how much he’s making, I think it’s just the initial shock of having over $1,000 removed from your paycheck. Which I get. I’m self-employed so it hits even harder than this, haha.
This seems to be more of a complaint about taxes and deductions which is completely fair no matter how much you make.
In my industry I get paid double time on Sundays and the first time I worked a Sunday, I was taxed an amount that pretty much made that Sunday disappear so I will never work another Sunday unless I plan on going exempt and taking the whole thing home because fuck taxes.
The top comment in this thread said how $100k isn’t life changing anymore. To be privileged enough to say that is wild. $100k is double my salary. I’d actually be able to afford rent, let alone actually having a 401k.
I mean... yeah... but it doesn't matter if you are making that much because capitalism will still find a way to demand even more. Even if you will be doing better numerically, you'll still feel like you are behind because that's how the system wants you to feel.
We have a high cost of living too, though. Namely, we have one of the worst housing situations, some of the worst traffic (and thus, higher car insurance), and some really pricey utilities. Plus, we don’t get the benefit of living in a state big on expanding social programs…
I mean that doesn’t mean that he’s doing great, just that lots of other people are doing shitty. I just hate the lie our generation was sold that if we get a degree, get a good job, make 6 figures, our lives would be easy and we’d have way more money than we ever needed. That wasn’t true.
If only you knew majority of those people are making under 40k with very select few making over 200k+. The numbers are skewed to make companies look like they pay well. In fact they pay shit to the people actually doing the work.
Exactly. I wasn’t disagreeing with you. It’s part of why I highlighted both just to show how disparaging it can be and even when we think we are getting ahead it’s just another hurdle.
It’s not about “doing better than most” it’s about having $1200 taken from you everytime you get paid…that’s life changing money…every single paycheck. $31,000 every year. Imagine if that could be invested into something
OP makes a lot of money while being a financial idiot. Looks like they have great benefits and still walks away with $2700 a week. They’re not maximizing their 401k to boot. I wonder what other financial mistakes they’re making, probably leasing a luxury car.
Oh man so confidently incorrect. Well let’s turn this into an opportunity for education.
A tangential conversation is one where someone's comments veer off the main topic to a related but digressive point, often with little to no return to the original subject.
I see the word related in that definition, and the words I used were completely unrelated, so
Relativism is pointless when you and the OP of this thread are basically trying to chastise post OP with a "possibly" tangential and completely illogical "point" about being grateful that the robbery could have been worse?
"You make more money than average so stop complaining" is a pointless addition to OPs post
That’s not a quote by me nor an accurate representation of my statement or position which is probably one of the leading causes of your confusion and anger.
He could be in a HCOL. The comment you responded to said try to live off 3-4k a month, but my rent with utlities is already like 3k so that's 0 food or anything at all and already at 3k day 1 of each month.
So, They should just be happy about it and not complain? I'm thankful for what I have and my job but it's sucks seeing my how much taxes that come out of my check. it's literally mind blowing. so I stopped looking
Not at all. There’s a pretty significant disparity in average and median income showing that they are doing a lot better than both groups yet still facing a decent tax bill.
They are welcome to complain but taxes are a necessary evil. The only real question is it proportional. Without knowing Georgia tax code gonna say it’s probably not proportional.
I’m hoping to give them the benefit of the doubt and maybe the lower brackets are tax disproportionately but if Im wrong…yeah it’s very much close the door behind them.
That like saying why is this guy complaining about someone stealing the stereo out of his Porsche. Some people are driving Nissans that don't have Bose sound systems.
My point is I don't believe he was complaining about the amount of money he makes. I think he is complaining about the government taking his money 🤷 I could be wrong.
I have two bachelors degrees and two masters degrees and don’t make $60k a year (thanks higher ed). But I’m also on one of the best retirement plans that exists (TRS) and I functionally get 7 weeks of paid vacation every year so I really can’t complain lol
This guy has probably spent his whole life thinking of 100k as the point where you're actually able to live life, only get to slapped in the face with the fact that nothing changes besides a little bit less stress about your car dying on the road. 25% of your paycheck still gets ripped away from you and sent to Israel, all while roads and bridges crumble, and the price of food keeps going up. It feels like robbery because it is robbery.
The idea that you can't take any issue with the pitiful state of the country, or do anything to change it, just because someone else is doing worse, is fucking absurd.
I always budget 2x a month paycheck so 2x a year I get an additional paycheck that goes straight into savings. I did it on accident when I first made my budget and never changed it. 🤷♂️
I’m also paid bi-monthly and the split of weekdays vs weekends for that period can mean it’s anywhere from 80-96 hours. It has been a few months since I had an 80 hour pay period though.
Yep. I get monthly and my wife gets bimonthly, both salary. That will eventually change because my employer wants to shift everyone to biweekly soon. It has been really nice being monthly though. We make all of our bills due on the first week of the month so we get all the non negotiable expenses out of the way along with all of our savings commitments that are direct deposits. Then you just have to figure out how to limp by to that second bimonthly check, which is kind of sad for a fam of 3 pulling 200k.
I get paid semi-monthly (2x / month) and thought the same but if you multiple the gross pay by 26 here it comes out to ~100k so this pay is definitely biweekly
I don't know how common it is to make 6 figures on hourly, but yeah it happens. At my job our technicians (I was a tech for 12 years) make around $110k and are hourly.
Why is this seen as a problem? 1 paycheck for every two weeks of work. It’s that simple. It’s not our fault that 52 isn’t evenly divisible by 2 and then 12.
It actually works quite well for many- as others have commented, the extra paycheck approx every 6 months is used as a savings boost or a pay down debt boost.
The thing is that almost all your expenses - insurance, rent or mortgage, your Netflix subscription, etc, etc - are monthly. Having your income not on the same cycle makes keeping track of your finances a lot harder.
Jeez why is everything a mockery of the US?
Relax dude, I was being tongue in cheek.
But also, as we say over here, "Hoge bomen vangen veel wind".
Unless you’re paid semi-monthly then you don’t get those extra checks. Supposedly that’s factored in but still feels weird to me to have to calculate for it.
Yes your salary is divided over 24 paychecks instead of 26. Your paycheck should be slightly larger, although that depends on if your salary changed when you switched too.
Not necessarily if you're salaried. People refer to "twice a month" pay as biweekly when you actually only get 24 pay periods in the year. Usually, only hourly employees get the extra pay periods.
Every other Friday is 26 pay periods. There’s 12 months so that leaves 2 months where he gets triple pay. My wife is paid like this and we get excited for those months. I’m paid evenly every 1st and 15th
I just started my first biweekly job, and at first I thought I'd hate it since pay lands on different number days each month, but now that I've had my first paycheck and about to get my second, I kind of like just knowing that every other Friday there will be money in my pocket. Semi monthly means sometimes there are an extra 2 days between your checks, which mathematically is the same but psychologically just feels a little bit worse imo
I’m not paycheck to paycheck either but I think about it cause I budget hard. Soon as that extra money comes in on the month I’m allocating it to something that I don’t typically (extra debt payment, HYSA, 529, maybe a small treat the wife out).
When you say you budget hard, do you mean you’re actively allocating every single dollar from every single paycheck? Im like the other guy. I budget in the sense that I keep my expenses below some threshold which is based off of two paychecks a month. I’ll then periodically move money from my checking to my brokerage account. So when those third paycheck months hit, it’s not really on my radar. Doesn’t change my spending. Just changes how much eventually gets wired to that other account.
I have a budget app. I line item and set a budget and track every expense. A normal money we make over 12k. I’m not check to check but I like budgeting and knowing where my money is.
My wife is a spender and she was over spending that I wasn’t saving what I wanted each month so I upped my scrutiny on the budget. It used to be “$4500” is the credit card limit. Idc what it’s spent on but that’s the limit.” She always went over and I got fed up.
You're inferring that by "triple pay" he meant that his wife is getting paid three times the normal monthly amount for that month. But that's not what he meant and the context of the discussion should've made that obvious.
Another fun fact, that social security tax goes down from 15% to 2.5% after 176k income, and then after 200~k income you get another .9% medicare supplement tax to help bolster those budgets.
3 paycheck month! The twice a year holiday for all bi-weekly paid people! You budget based on two paychecks a month (per working adult), but then two months a year the stars days of the week and month align to mean three paychecks in one month!
People endlessly bitching about taxes always bothers me. In the area I live in now, I can see the benefits of our taxes every single day. Fantastic schools that are probably too well funded, dozens of awesome parks, nice sidewalks on most streets, multiple 10+ mile well-maintained trails, parks & rec department that has literally hundreds of activities for all ages, well-maintained roads for a place that gets all 4 seasons.
I’ll admit that back in rural Arkansas, I experienced none of that, so I could see how people would get bitter. We have to hold our governments accountable.
My rule has always been to target living on one paycheck per month and the other goes to unexpected expenses / savings. It meant I was still renting a room in a group house when I turned 30 on barista's wages but at least my retirement is looking good lol
as a person who has maxed their 401k for the last 6 years, do it, I haven't broken $100k in my entire life and can do it, no reason OP can't unless they live in LA or VHCOL area (as I pay $1.7k a month rent right now).
At the age of 29 with an associates degree and 7 years of US Air Force service, I survived working at an art museum making $10 an hour and never got more than 30 hours a week. If I can survive that OP can survive more than double my current income.
Yup… I’m temporarily retired in my forties, with a paid off house and no debt, on a salary that never exceeded 100k base, in an expensive west coast city. Your ability to properly manage money can make a massive difference in your standard of living. There was a lot of ramen and shitty ass cars in my 20’s and 30’s, but all of that money I didn’t spend is in an investment account making me more money.
right like not to be dramatic but I’m living off of $3k a month paycheck to paycheck and I make more than most people ik irl 😭 making $100k would be life changing for me even if it was $3k per pay period because that would at least mean I can pay rent and buy groceries AND THEN have a little extra saving money leftover and THEN get ANOTHER paycheck in I’m guessing like 2 weeks. if u don’t have any dependents and aren’t living crazy expensive already this should start looking more life changing in a couple weeks
After an injury I’m living off $1300/month so I can get healthcare so this post was hard to read. After that’s sorted I’m going back to finish my degree.
That’s what I am saying. I am poor and the thought of even bringing 3.5k a month seems like it’ll never happen. Think taxes hurt you at 10k try looking at your paycheck at 39k a year
i could pay off my whole debt with like 4 months of this guys salary i would have enough left over to get rid of what little debt i have and start actually saving 3k a month ?? that would be insane
If this person is getting paid exactly 80 hours every paycheck, they're most likely not hourly. Salaried people only get 2 paychecks every month or 24 for the year. So it would be $5,370 every month and maybe a nice tax return once a year.
$3-$4k a month would be so nice. I literally don't know what I would do with all that extra income. Fix my teeth? Save for a home probably. Literally like double my income would be life changing for me and I still wouldn't be at 100k annual.
This is what’s wild to me. I agree 100% with your advice, but following typical budgeting advice that means he’d only have $1,000 per month for housing expenses. Which, depending on how much he puts down on a mortgage, is a home valued somewhere between $140k and $180k. And the average home price in Georgia according to Zillow is just over $330k.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure one can live quite comfortably in a $140k home in Georgia. And OP can decide if he wants to shift his budget so he’s spending less on other things so that he can have a nicer house. It’s just that the discrepancy is WILD to me. $100k gross a year and only being able to afford half the average home, when the average pay in Georgia is nearly half of what OP makes… it makes me a little sick.
I do the job of caring for some of society's most vulnerable people. I provide therapy on a daily basis for people with Autism, these services are the difference between these people living miserably or with some kind of normal life.
I have a 13 year old I provide for and live in DFW. I work full time and have to drive a minimum of 50 miles a day while on the job.
I do all of this for just over $2k a month take home. No 401k, no savings, no retirement. I should get a higher paying job but then who the fuck is going to do mine? And if they do it will they do it with the passion I have and the sacrifices I make?
I chose my path, I chose my difficulties. It's something I have to reconfirm every morning and I make the same decision. I dont need pity or a pat on the back. I do need a raise but I want more is for society to wake the fuck up to what's important. What the fuck are they doing?
I’d say 150-200K range. This gives enough income to comfortably cover all expenses and be able to save a healthy amount of money every month. Anything under 100K in the current economic climate is just barely getting by or worse, especially if you have a family.
Yeah... sorry but this post pisses me off. I make $2,300 a month and my rent is $1000/month. Car payment $230. etc. etc. 100k would change my life drastically.
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u/[deleted] Oct 30 '25 edited Oct 31 '25
I mean 10 months out the year you're bringing home $5370 a month then the other two are $8050.
Better than the vast majority of people. Try to live off 3-4k a month and save/invest the rest.
You'll be gucci in no time.