What kind of quality of life can you have on $80,000/year for family of 4? (San Diego: fit in, sales)

[beans121]

My hubby is considering job in SD area, it would start at about $80K. Because of his job location we would need to stay in the Oceanside/ Carlsbad/ Encinitas area. Potentially a little south of there... but probably not as far as La Jolla. We have two young kids, and I have been a SAHM for a while. Could we actually afford to live a decent life on just his salary? Everything I read either says we would be living under a bridge or that we would be "fine". I need more specific help... like what does a typical family of 4 budget look like out there? What does a typical grocery bill look like? What are the other costs that I wouldn't know about?
I am concerned that we will be able to afford a house and a car, but have to skip the soccer, dance, travel, any of those things that we are able to fit into our lives right now. I am also concerned that even if we can afford to survive, that we will be considered in the lower income groups and always be wishing we had more compared to what is around us. I'm not saying I need to drive a fancy car (we have two paid for 5 year old SUVs so were not flashy be any means) but will we live in a teeny house, no where near the beach, and live paycheck to paycheck?
Looking for someone who lives similar quality life and for similar salary to help me make a good decision.
We currently live in AZ and can do it on about 60K a year with some "wiggle room"- but have a pretty "spacious" house, two cars, travel a bit, 1 child goes to private Christian school, and I don't have to work etc.
Thanks in advance!

[tonyinsd]

I'd suggest you use this tool.

http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/...alculator.aspx

When I plug in Phoenix versus San Diego and a $60K income in Phoneix, you end up with needing $83K to live in San Diego.

So it's roughly comparable. The place you will get killed is housing, but that shouldn't be a surprise.

[janineg]

Once you sell your house in AZ, you'll have a good down payment, right? About how much do you think you would want to spend on a house? If it's 300-400k, Oceanside and Vista will get you a 3-4 bedroom house in a decent area. You'll need more than that for Carlsbad, Encinitas.

[earlyretirement]

I'm going to be in the camp that says that with 2 kids, $80,000 is not too much for San Diego to live in a good neighborhood in a nice house in a good school district. Housing in San Diego is MUCH higher than anywhere in Arizona. Also, taxes are higher and the cost of living is higher here.

The biggest thing that kills you here is real estate as others have mentioned. And it's a huge difference of living in San Diego with no kids vs. having young kids that add into the mix. I'm not saying you can't get by here in San Diego on that but it's not too much here to raise 2 young kids on and live in a good area.

You might want to check out this thread - http://www.city-data.com/forum/san-d...mfortably.html

I've heard other people that had similar thoughts as "OntheGtrain's" post so you might want to check that out.

[NYSD1995]

Unless you are bringing significant equity or are a lifetime renter you simply won't be able to live the true middle class dream here on that money. By dream I mean:

Own a nice home in a nice area with a reasonable commute to a job center
Kids in good schools through high school
Financially secure with adequate savings and investment
Own 2 modern and well maintained vehicles
All necessary access to healthcare
All necessary access to technology
Access to leisure and travel activities beyond free / local options

Other folks will now chime in and tell you they are doing fine on 40k by living an austerity or childless/renter lifestyle, but the reality is fairly depressing for typical white collar families if you aren't bringing money with you. IMO the income threshold for the lifestyle I described above is about 150k+

Realized I didn't answer your question, on 80k you can have most or all of the above except owning the home. Rent on a nice condo in a nice area is not bad here. If you want to own a single fam home you are talking old house in an old hood with crime and/or schools issues, or living very far out from SD.

[oddstray]

Originally Posted by beans121

... . I am also concerned that even if we can afford to survive, that we will be considered in the lower income groups and always be wishing we had more compared to what is around us. ...

On 80K things will be tight for you here. Whether or not you'd always be wishing you had more is completely up to you. There's always someone around with more, and always someone around with less.

[earlyretirement]

Originally Posted by Sassberto

Unless you are bringing significant equity or are a lifetime renter you simply won't be able to live the true middle class dream here on that money. By dream I mean:

Own a nice home in a nice area with a reasonable commute to a job center
Kids in good schools through high school
Financially secure with adequate savings and investment
Own 2 modern and well maintained vehicles
All necessary access to healthcare
All necessary access to technology
Access to leisure and travel activities beyond free / local options

Other folks will now chime in and tell you they are doing fine on 40k by living an austerity or childless/renter lifestyle, but the reality is fairly depressing for typical white collar families if you aren't bringing money with you. IMO the income threshold for the lifestyle I described above is about 150k+

Realized I didn't answer your question, on 80k you can have most or all of the above except owning the home. Rent on a nice condo in a nice area is not bad here. If you want to own a single fam home you are talking old house in an old hood with crime and/or schools issues, or living very far out from SD.

Bingo. Exactly my thoughts. That's also my definition of living the "true middle class dream".

On an $80,000 salary. Here is what the breakdown looks like with 4 exemptions.

Monthly Gross Pay $6,666.67
Federal Withholding $636.25
Social Security $280.00
Medicare $96.67
California $183.74
SDI $66.67


Net Pay per Month: $5,403.34


So I agree with Sassberto that unless you have tons of equity/savings to supplement the salary or some other means that you left out in your post, for San Diego with 2 kids it's not anything significant.

Again, I'm not saying that it's not doable to live here on that. But it's certainly not for many people with 2 kids that want to have a good quality of life, while still planning and thinking about their future retirement.

I guess the big question is how much equity do you have in your current house? And I mean true equity once you sell it and all taxes, realtor fees, etc. are factored in and assuming a conservative sales price?

You should know how much you spend on the other things in Arizona including tuition, groceries, cost of living. Just increase those on your spreadsheet budget and see what your numbers come out with. You will find that just the housing costs alone will take up much of your monthly salary.

[Cardiff Kook]

i don't know. sounds like it would be pretty tight. I make more than 60k now in DC and that's barely enough to get by here (and I live with my g/f who works). Can't imagine what I could save with my salary in Arizona!

[Ragnar]

If you don't need to pay for childcare or aftershool care, that will help a lot. If your kids can share a room, you can probably make it with a 2 bedroom house. The year-round weather is truly much nicer in San Diego than AZ, so you shouldn't have long stretches that require you to stay indoors.

The latest issue of San Diego Magazine has a section listing the private schools in the San Diego area with tuition costs, and I remember a few Christian faith-based schools were on list. I cannot seem to find the same article on the San Diego Magazine website, perhaps because the magazine "article" was actually an "advertiser" section in disguise. You should be able to find more info about San Diego private schools online. However, if you're willing to switch from private to public school, at least initially, that will free up a lot of $$$ in your budget.

Will your husband's company cover your moving expenses? If so, that will help a lot with the initial transition.

[JosephineBeth]

Well I just moved from San Diego making slightly above that - single mom to two. I couldn't do it. I do have high student loans though. It wasn't we couldn't live comfortable. Groceries, slim entertainment budget, stuff like that were o.k. No robbing Peter to pay Paul. It was just I couldn't afford other than renting, was not able to save what I wanted to save percent wise, and so on. I want to own a home and what I could afford out there was not good (condo living is not my thing). So I moved to the DC area which has same cost housing in most areas but not all - in my little burb it's not expensive (under $200K for a townhouse) and I got a great job making a lot more than San Diego. Extra $800 or so a month makes a huge difference in my ability to afford a home. I'm still saving (we did a sub lease in the area I plan to buy in) and will buy next year. I've got my down payment already with savings as the monthly COL for us did not really change much but I bring more home.

I don't know. I don't think $80K is enough IMHO. Not for a stay at home mom if you want something like a home and any chance at private school or vacations and such without relying on maxing out credit cards to keep up. JMHO of course.