Is this a good Pay rate? (San Diego, Chula Vista: apartment, rental, health insurance)

[norellan]

Hello everyone, my husband and I are contemplating the possibility of moving to San Diego by March 2016 maybe sooner. I like to ask a few questions from the locals before we cam make the decision.
1. Is $30 an hour + tips(starting salary with option for overtime) good enough to make it in the areas of Kensington, City Height, North Park and its surroundings? we want to see if we can do good with my husband salary only as he doesn't want to use what I make to live there.
2. What area would be good to raise a 9 year old girl and 4 year old boy? We have visited 3 times already and love how active everyone seems to be. We also love the fact that we can get fresh organic food all the time. As well as fresh seafood.
4. Is Chula Vista as nice as the above mention areas?
5. How far inland can we go before we start loosing the awesome San Diego weather?


Thank you

[RainbowHope]

Are you looking to rent? What is your housing budget? It is hard to say if $30/hour would be enough as you would have housing plus other bills. Housing is the biggest expense here.

As far as weather, the coast has the marine layer, and inland has heat which increases the further inland you go. But, it is all awesome. :-)

What are you looking for in a neighborhood?

[norellan]

RainbowHope, We are looking in to renting at first and we might buy as we get to know the areas better. We have one $479 a month car payment at the moment. We have have credit cards but only use them to move our credit and pay them right away. I guess the only other bills would be water, gas/electric, cell phone and internet.
We want to have good parks withing walking distance to take the kids to and have low to only neighborhood traffic in our neighborhood for kids to be able to play outside.
We also like the Idea of going out to breweries and for walks at any time.

[RainbowHope]

That equates to roughly 62k. Then you figure income tax, which I believe for that income would be 8%-ish (fellow CD-ers correct me if I am wrong). Also, car insurance, health insurance, and rent. And, the moving expenses add up pretty quick.

I think you would need to crunch the numbers on the amounts that you come up with for your bills, and see what is left and that could help you figure out your comfort zone with money.

[norellan]

Health insurance is cover by his work mainly. As for the move, we gonna make it easy. We are planning on selling most of what we have and maybe just use one big uhaul truck if need be at $1,113.00. we are looking to start small at a 1000sqft at most for an apartment with parking for 2 vehicles with pets allowed as we have 2 dogs. And as mention before we only looking to use his salary to pay bills. And use mine for any extras we might encounter (savings, going out, entertainment, etc).

[benshaton]

Originally Posted by norellan

Health insurance is cover by his work mainly. As for the move, we gonna make it easy. We are planning on selling most of what we have and maybe just use one big uhaul truck if need be at $1,113.00. we are looking to start small at a 1000sqft at most for an apartment with parking for 2 vehicles with pets allowed as we have 2 dogs. And as mention before we only looking to use his salary to pay bills. And use mine for any extras we might encounter (savings, going out, entertainment, etc).

My guess is that many are getting by on a lot less than your income there. It's just a matter of how much money you want to have to use after basic expenses.

[norellan]

thank you very much for all your input. I'll keep researching on neighborhoods and alike. We are mainly concern as this will be a big move for us. All our family live where we currently live, but we are wanting to be away from them for a while.

Thank you

[shadow91]

Really, like what about the minimum wagers out there living there?

[oddstray]

Minimum wagers here are either still living with the parents or are working multiple jobs and sharing rental units.

[norellan]

Yeah imho I don't see how anyone is expected to make a living off minimum wage anywhere. But specially in big popular areas like California or New York.