The good news: It’s still not as tough to make ends meet in D.C. as in San Francisco, New York or San Jose, according to a new study. However, you will still need to earn $80,273 per year to live “comfortably” in our nation’s capital.
GoBankingRates, the financial website that conducted the study, scrutinized the cost of living in the United States’s 50 most-populous cities and came up with the $80K figure — and a working definition of “comfortable.”
“A good way to gauge whether you can live a comfortable financial life is to apply the 50-30-20 budgeting rule, in which 50 percent of income covers necessities, 30 percent covers discretionary items and 20 percent is for savings,” the website wrote. “From here, you can figure out whether your income is sufficient to cover cost-of-living expenses in your city.”
Digging further into the data, GoBankingRates found D.C. residents needed:
- 50 percent for necessities: $40,136
- 30 percent for discretionary spending: $24,082
- 20 percent for savings: $16,055
- Income needed to live comfortably: $80,273
Put another way, D.C.’s median income is$70,848 — about $9,400 below “the amount needed to live well,” the website found.
More good news: Though $80,273 may seem like a lot, it’s actually about $2,800 less than D.C. residents needed to earn to live comfortably in their city last year, GoBankingRates found.
Those seeking cheaper digs may consider a move to Virginia Beach. GoBankingRates said that city, whose residents have $13,985 surplus income, tops the list of places “where people can easily afford to live comfortably.”
On the other hand, you’d need to earn $110,357 annually to be “comfortable” in San Francisco, the report said.
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