What's a decent salary for a single in Seattle? (Marcus: apartments, for rent)

[EuropeanAnna]

I know it's a very general question but, lets say to rent a one bed apartment in a decent area, be able to go out few times a month etc.

[trysometh]

60k

[homesinseattle]

Of course, depends on your spending habits. $50K would be about minumum, $70K preferable.

[Bolo99]

TS, 50-60k minimum sounds about right. Under 50k would make it quite tough unless you don't mind renting a room.

[Sockeye66]

Originally Posted by Bolo99

TS, 50-60k minimum sounds about right. Under 50k would make it quite tough unless you don't mind renting a room.

Or living without a car.

[FrostySpark]

I make slightly under 50k before taxes and it is doable but can still be rough. I work in the North Seattle area and live an hour away without traffic. I live with roommates and my rent is so cheap I can't bear to move. I have looked for places closer to work and I just can't fathom paying $1100 for a studio. I easily pay my student loans, car payment, rent, basic bills, putting money in savings and still have money for an occasional concert/night out. I by no means can take a vacation or make a big purchase just because but I don't live paycheck to paycheck.

[FromChicagotoSeattle]

I can only speak for myself and I KNOW I lucked out on a great area and having such low rent. But I make around 40K (slightly over) and I have a 1 bedroom, live alone in the heart Columbia City, can afford a 3 year old car note/insurance, my student loans, cable/internet, and other bills. I also contribute to 401k and have enough spending money for clothes, mani/pedis, etc.

I grew up with a mom who was VERY poor as a kid so she taught me how to work with a little amount of money. I'm a much worse spender than her, but for the most part, if you're very resourceful, you will be okay - as a single person, no kids - at around 40K and up, IMO. YMMV.

[beenhereandthere]

If you want to stay within the 1/3rd guideline for rent or mortgages, except for maybe South King County, you'd need at least 50k, assuming you want your own place.

[Malloric]

I was fine on $35k base salary but that was six years ago and rents have gone up. The studio I rented for $950 (including utilities except cable/telephone) probably is more like $1,200 now. Probably not what you'd call a nice apartment, more a kind of dumpy one although the location was excellent. No car as I lived in Capitol Hill and worked downtown. If I'd kept the car it would have been tighter but as it was I had plenty of money for going out, given I'm fairly inexpensive in that regard. Dive bar, local music, coffee shops, hiking, biking, occasional movie at a theater, eating out reasonably priced restaurants. None of that's really expensive. Should be able to do that for $40,000 or so today.

Then just add in the things you want beyond that. Semi-dumpy studio for around $1,200, decent but nothing fancy apartment for $1,500, luxury apartment about $2,000 for the downtown area. If you want to drive figure parking might run you $300/mo depending on location alone plus regular car costs, which really varies if you're talking BMW or beater. It could easily be $60k if you want a luxury apartment and have car payment/lease. Sky's the limit really, just depends how nice the apartment is, what you consider a decent car, and how much Neiman Marcus shopping is required for your desired lifestyle. You can still get the older 1920s apartments for not that much or go across the street and spend twice as much at some of the luxury apartments. A lot of the reason Seattle's rent has "increased" so much is because of all the new luxury inventory. Sure, everything has increased but the old stuff that hasn't been gut renovated hasn't gone up all that much. You can still find apartments for under $1,000 although it's getting hard if you want to be near downtown.