What is a Good Salary for a Single Person in California?
There are still a lot of fixed costs that you need to account for even if you are just one person, so our guidance for what is a good salary for a single person in California is not much different than our initial advice.
Still, you may be able to get a smaller house or apartment and you should be able to save around 50% on food, healthcare, and entertainment.
That could come out to about $15,000 less per year, which, when factoring in taxes, comes out to around $20,000. We’ll subtract that number from our initial range of $125k-$160k.
Therefore, we think that a good salary for a single person in California should be in the range of at least $105k to $140k.
Is 100k a Good Salary in California?
Honestly, in 2023, $100,000 in California will not get you very far in the big cities, especially if you are supporting a family. We think that may be a fair salary for smaller cities like Sacramento, Fresno, and Bakersfield, but it would not be sufficient to live a comfortable life in SF, LA, or San Diego.
Let’s break it down to see why we don’t think $100k is enough for a good lifestyle in California. After taxes, your monthly take-home pay would be about $5,600.
In San Francisco, rent and food alone would cost you about $5,000 per month. Therefore, you would only have about $600 left for car payments, utilities, healthcare costs, entertainment, and travel.
Is 125k a Good Salary in California?
$125k would start to get you into the comfortable range of a good lifestyle in almost every city in California. It would still be a bit tight in San Francisco and Los Angeles, but in all other cities, you would be able to live well.
Is 150k a Good Salary in California?
We think that a $150k salary is the threshold to be able to live well anywhere in California, even San Francisco. It would allow you to purchase all of your essentials without having to budget much and even give you some extra at the end of the month.
But, don’t let this high figure fool you. $150k is a good salary in California, but it will not make you rich. Things costs a lot in the Golden State, so $150k is still not enough for an extravagant lifestyle.
Is 200k a Good Salary in California?
Yes, a $200k salary in California would allow you to expand your lifestyle in virtually every Californian city.
With $200k, you could easily afford rent (or even make mortgage payments for a $1 million+ home), buy a Tesla, and have enough to go out to eat often and travel well.
But, $200k is still not as much as you may think, especially in the Bay Area. That would put you comfortably in the upper middle class, but still not in the true upper class.
Is 150k a Good Salary in Bay Area?
We think that $150k is the minimum salary you would want to seek if you aim to live comfortably in the Bay Area.
Any amount less and you would be unable to save any money or afford any extreme luxuries, especially if you are trying to support a family on a single income.
But, if you are single and budget well, we think that $150k is sufficient in the Bay Area.
What is Considered Upper Middle Class Income – Bay Area?
If we define the upper middle class as the top 50% of the middle class, then the general range for upper middle class income in the Bay Area is around $150k to $225k.
Anything above $225k per year would be classified as upper class in the Bay Area.
What is a Good Salary in Silicon Valley?
We think that a good salary in Silicon Valley is a range from $160k to $200k. The cost of living in Silicon Valley is actually a bit higher than in San Francisco. It even has the highest average housing costs in the entire US.
Therefore, we think that you will need about 10-20% more money in Silicon Valley than in San Francisco.
What is a Good Salary to Live Comfortably in Los Angeles in 2023?
We believe that a good salary to live comfortably in Los Angeles in 2023 is around $135,000. The cost of living in LA is not as steep as the Bay Area, but things are getting quite expensive, especially housing prices.
