Is 40-50K enough to really live in Denver? (Aurora: affordable apartments, renter)

[rocker10805]

The job I'm considering pays in this range. Rents in Denver are surprisingly kind of expensive. Not NYC or DC expensive, but high considering Denver is a pretty small city. Is that salary enough to really enjoy life here?

[Quietude]

We've had several discussions about this recently - poke back a bit. COL is not particularly high here EXCEPT for housing, which is way out of proportion. If you're an easy renter (no kids, no pets, no baggage) you can probably find something in the $1500 range without too much compromise of location of quality.

But yes, without room sharing or the like, housing is going to cost you around $20k a year, all-in. Figure it from there.

[grad_student200]

Originally Posted by rocker10805

The job I'm considering pays in this range. Rents in Denver are surprisingly kind of expensive. Not NYC or DC expensive, but high considering Denver is a pretty small city. Is that salary enough to really enjoy life here?

There used to be more affordable apartments like in Westminster, Aurora and LoDo. I survived a few months without much income after the startup I worked at went out of business during the "Dot Com" bubble. I recall people trying to make ends meet just by doing manual labor at daily pay/minimum wage. A lot of them were living out of their cars. This was during the recession of 2001-2002. Your potential income far exceeds a lot of those struggling back in that time frame - even when adjusted for inflation. That recession drove me to FL.

With that said, I would recommend using the RTD frequently and living near a bus route. The Denver RTD is pretty good. Try and live near a King Soopers type of grocery chain so you don't have to drive. This would save on gas, repairs, etc. Commuting in Denver can get expensive with the weather, snow tires, etc.

As you long as you don't rush into marriage with parenthood and live frugally you should be ok. But be sure to prepare for another recession. When it hits Denver, it falls hard - very hard. It forced me out of the state when it happened in the early 2000s, which I hated because I didn't want to leave back then. In hindsight, I am glad I did leave because while living in Denver it didn't dawn on me how bad the male:female ratio was - heavily skewed with far less women. By contrast, Florida was awesome for meeting beautiful southern belles who were actually approachable - or do the approaching themselves - lol.

[TCHP]

Denver's median income is $56-60k. About 10-12% of the population earn this. Whether or not that is enough for you depends on how you define "living".

[SirJohnHarington]

You can easily enjoy Denver on that level of pay... as long as you get a roommate.

I personally would rather live in my car than have a roommate.

[WhatTheFox]

No, it would not be enough.

[davebarnes]

I think it is enough.
Your $40-50K + your spouse's equal amount. You are married, right?
$80-100K seems reasonable to me.
Of course, we do own our house (i.e., we do not share ownership with the bank).

[maciesmom]

You'll need a roommate, but it's certainly doable.

[Seguinite]

Originally Posted by rocker10805

The job I'm considering pays in this range. Rents in Denver are surprisingly kind of expensive. Not NYC or DC expensive, but high considering Denver is a pretty small city. Is that salary enough to really enjoy life here?

Small? In comparison to NYC, yeah... but 700,000 folks isn't really small.

[harrison21]

$40K is not going to be enough unless you live with a roommate and can split most of your bills in half, and even then I'd think you'd have to live very frugally. You may be able to get your own place with $50K if you don't have other big expenses like student loans and a big car payment.