Question regarding COL in Charlotte... (Durham: apartment, rental, house)

[RunD1987]

Wife and I are looking to make a jump move down South. A lot more job opportunities for our line of work (Wife is a nurse and I am a psych tech). With that said pay is probably going to be a bit lower and doing research right now make about $20, 000 less a year in South Carolina averaging about $60,000.

We were looking into Durham for some jobs and curious would $60K be okay living down there or be stretching the budget bit thin.

Hoping to find a 2bdr rental under $1,000 think that would be doable?

Appreciate the insight.

[urbancharlotte]

I'm a little confused. Are you moving to Charlotte, Durham, or South Carolina?

At any rate, this is the Charlotte forum. I'll share with you some of my COL situation. My wife and I earn $150,000/year combined. At that income level, it's easy to support ourselves and our 3 kids. There have been times in the past when we earned $90,000/year combined, and we still managed.

In my opinion, a family of 2 needs about $60,000/year as a combined minimum to live in "comfort" here. Add $20,000/year to that $60k for each child.

[MrRational]

Originally Posted by RunD1987

With that said pay is probably going to be a bit lower and ...

Appreciate the insight.

However much you earn, however much you deduct, and wherever you might live ...
the numbers all work the same: MONTHLY housing costs (incl utilities etc) vs WEEKLY net income.
And this works just the same whether renting or paying off a mortgage.

First do the math for how you want your life to be regarding pretax deductions (401K IRA HSA etc).
If you have any other deductions (whether you like them or not) add them into the mix.

Then see what the WEEKLY NET comes out to.
Then see what sort of house or apartment THAT amount allows you to have.
---

This also works because wherever you might be (or want to go) you'll find that housing costs
are the largest single component of any COL calculation you'll make or between any two choices...
all of which also very directly plays into difference in wage rates available for the several areas.
https://www.bankrate.com/calculators...alculator.aspx