what is the cost of life in Chicago? (Manhattan, Detroit: 2013, insurance)

[squishy506]

I'm aware that people can and often do overspend especially as their income increases. What I don't understand is how so many responders in this thread assess that the OP would be "just fine" on $50,000 gross annually in Chicago. Unless they have children, that's a very nice income in my opinion. It leads me to believe those who feel that way have spending issues.

[via chicago]

Where is anyone saying its not a good salary? Well, except for the troll upthread

[Drover]

Originally Posted by squishy506

I'm aware that people can and often do overspend especially as their income increases. What I don't understand is how so many responders in this thread assess that the OP would be "just fine" on $50,000 gross annually in Chicago. Unless they have children, that's a very nice income in my opinion. It leads me to believe those who feel that way have spending issues.

Either that or we're willing to spend more to not have to live with a roommate like we're still in college.

[lycos679]

Originally Posted by squishy506

I'm aware that people can and often do overspend especially as their income increases. What I don't understand is how so many responders in this thread assess that the OP would be "just fine" on $50,000 gross annually in Chicago. Unless they have children, that's a very nice income in my opinion. It leads me to believe those who feel that way have spending issues.

It's 30% below the median for the Chicago MSA, so while OP won't starve, OP will also have limited options.

Originally Posted by via chicago

Where is anyone saying its not a good salary? Well, except for the troll upthread

It's not a "good" salary, it just isn't awful.

[via chicago]

Originally Posted by lycos679

It's not a "good" salary, it just isn't awful.

And we're going in circles. If you are single without debt, you can live a very comfortable middle class lifestyle on that much. If you are the only breadwinner and have 3 kids and a mortgage and car payments and school loans and a leaky roof...well maybe not. Although there are certainly people in those kinds of situations making less. Like everything else in life...it depends.

Here is what Americans are making as HOUSEHOLDS



This individual will be making right around the median for themselves and living with roommates which will stretch their income even further.

[lycos679]

Originally Posted by via chicago

And we're going in circles. If you are single without debt, you can live a very comfortable middle class lifestyle on that much. If you are the only breadwinner and have 3 kids and a mortgage and car payments and school loans and a leaky roof...well maybe not. Although there are certainly people in those kinds of situations making less. Like everything else in life...it depends.

Here is what Americans are making as HOUSEHOLDS

This individual will be making right around the median for themselves and living with roommates which will stretch their income even further.

But the median income for the Chicago MSA is around $73-$75K. You can be comfortable on $50K as long as you make sacrifices, but I wouldn't necessarily classify it as comfortable middle class even though the income falls within the middle class brackets.

$50K
$10K taxes
-----
$40K; $3.33K/mo
$12K; $1K rent
$1200; $100 phone
$1200; $100 utilities
$1200; $100 CTA pass
$3.6K; $300 food
$1.8K; $150 insurance. This could actually be higher, but we don't know OP's age or what type of plan his employer is providing.
$12K; $1K 401K
-------------------
$9K; $750 month for savings, gym, entertainment, clothes, etc.

$50K is enough to live on, but OP would have to give up owning a house, buying a car (which we don't know is even possible), having kids, & possibly having overseas vacations. Like I said, it's not a "good" salary, it just isn't awful. OTOH, I sense the OP is a girl, so she can probably get a guy to buy her stuff. $50K might be a good salary for her job and age, but there is no reason to assume it is without more info.

This is everything we know: What type of transport is OP talking about? Insurance, gas, depreciation/pmt, parking on a car will demolish the budget.

Hello everyone!
I am planning to move to Chicago but I would need some indications.
they have offered me 50000 $ per year, visa sponsored and insurance paid for half by the company and then the rest charged monthly on my payslip. I want to know if it is a good salary or not, considering that i have to pay rent (i dont want anything special and i am keen to share an apartment) and transports?
please help me!
Valentina

[Vlajos]

The median household income in Chicago is $48,000 or so. The average household has 2.5 people. A $50K salary for one person should be fine.

[lycos679]

Originally Posted by Vlajos

The median household income in Chicago is $48,000 or so. The average household has 2.5 people. A $50K salary for one person should be fine.

The Chicago MSA that I was talking about includes more than Chicago proper.

According to this, the median household income is $60K and median family income is $73K for the Chicago proper area.

Chicago Illinois Household Income | Department of Numbers

[stephei2000]

Originally Posted by lycos679

But the median income for the Chicago MSA is around $73-$75K. You can be comfortable on $50K as long as you make sacrifices, but I wouldn't necessarily classify it as comfortable middle class even though the income falls within the middle class brackets.

$50K
$10K taxes
-----
$40K; $3.33K/mo
$12K; $1K rent
$1200; $100 phone
$1200; $100 utilities
$1200; $100 CTA pass
$3.6K; $300 food
$1.8K; $150 insurance. This could actually be higher, but we don't know OP's age or what type of plan his employer is providing.
$12K; $1K 401K
-------------------
$9K; $750 month for savings, gym, entertainment, clothes, etc.

$50K is enough to live on, but OP would have to give up owning a house, buying a car (which we don't know is even possible), having kids, & possibly having overseas vacations. Like I said, it's not a "good" salary, it just isn't awful. OTOH, I sense the OP is a girl, so she can probably get a guy to buy her stuff. $50K might be a good salary for her job and age, but there is no reason to assume it is without more info.

This is everything we know: What type of transport is OP talking about? Insurance, gas, depreciation/pmt, parking on a car will demolish the budget.

All this stuff is really overpriced. If you have to live a typical yuppie lifestyle, I guess this is normal. However, you can easily spend less than 1000 on rent. I have never spent over 800 dollars on rent and I live in Lakeview. Also, health insurance being 150 seems high to me. On my employers plan, I was only paying 34 dollars a month. The highest I would have paid was 68 dollars. It is not a real benefit if you paying 150 or more. Also this is usually taxed before your income so you are saving on taxes.

Lastly, if you shop around you can get a cell phone plan for under 100 dollars. My utility bill and cell phone bill combined are 100 hundred dollars.

A person with smart money management who is single with no debt could easily live comfortably with 50,000 and save 10,000 per year. I say that is pretty comfortable. Now if you want to max out your retirement accounts, you might need a bigger salary.

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by lycos679

The Chicago MSA that I was talking about includes more than Chicago proper.

According to this, the median household income is $60K and median family income is $73K for the Chicago proper area.

Chicago Illinois Household Income | Department of Numbers

The OP is a one person household, correct? The average household size is about 2.5 people. Per capita income is $28.5K.

From the census. Chicago (city) QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau