Could I realistically afford to live in San Diego?

[tonyinsd]

Originally Posted by mysticaltyger

This is technically true, but spending 1/3 of your income on housing is a prescription for payday to payday living (and all the stress that goes with living that way).

Not necessarily. It depends on what else you spend the other two thirds on. One third will be eaten by taxes, give or take. That gives you one third to spend on other things or save.

If you're making $40-45K a year, that gives you $13-15K a year to work with after you've paid for housing. No, you can't live high on the hog, but you certainly can afford to put food on the table, buy some nice things, and save some money.

[NYSD1995]

those ratios are a bit subjective

if you make 45k then spending 30% of your income on housing is probably going to hurt

if you make 100k then you won't care