Salary/Income needed for $1500mo. rent

[jtur88]

There is no rule.

Let's say I'm on Social Security, and I get $1,100 a month. I pay $500 rent on an apartment. If I got $2,100 a month, I could maintain my same lifestyle, and move up to a $1,500 apartment. So I would need an income of $25K a year, to be able to make the move to a $1500 apartment.

[sware2cod]

Many landlords have minimum income requirements for their rentals. They usually put this on the application or explain the requirements to you.

Sometimes they require your monthly income to be at least 2.5 times monthly rent. Some require 3 times monthly rent.

[Malloric]

30% is the randomly assigned value at which housing (rent, renter's insurance, basic utilities but not TV/Internet/Phone) becomes "burdened." That said, nearly half of renters pay more than 30% of their income. There's also the point that living in expensive areas nothing goes up as quickly as housing. For example, if your choice is to rent an apartment for $1500 in a city where you don't even need a car or $1200 in a suburb with an hour-long commute into work and need a car to get to work and around... probably better off paying the extra $300.

http://www.census.gov/housing/census...can-afford.pdf

That said, $1500 (+200 for utilities) using the 30% rule would be a salary of $68,000 a year. A far better role is to spend as little as possible for housing that is acceptable. My housing plus utilities is about $1100/month. I'm in no rush to go out and spend more just because some formula tells me I can.

[stevo6]

I like the 25% rule for families, but for a single person I think 33% of net is fine. Personally I would just map it out. Here is a start:

1500 rent
350 car
130 car insurance
500 food AND gas (assumes <$10/day for gas and not eating out)
30 elec
? heat
? water/sewer
120 i phone
120 cable/internet
300 401K
60 Credit Card debt
20 Hair cut
? Student Loans
200 Cushion
What else???

[pinipig523]

It think if you made 5-6K gross per month, you can afford the 1500$ apartment.