How much money do you need for a family of 3 to survive in Atlanta (real estate, rent)

[Harmony200]

I am thinking of taking a job in Atlanta. Im from New York. The Pay is significantly lower than what I am used to up here.
What is a good salary for a family of 3 to survive on?

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by Harmony200

I am thinking of taking a job in Atlanta. Im from New York. The Pay is significantly lower than what I am used to up here.
What is a good salary for a family of 3 to survive on?

A lot depends on where in the metro you plan on surviving. What do you have for a housing budget, etc?

[a|ex]

depends on how much debt you have.
also depends if you have girls.
$60k with no car payments or credit card debt will get you by.

factor in your minimum living standards (hobbies, schooling, insurance premiums, etc).

do you plan on latch-keying your kids or one parent at home?

$90k with both parents working with one car payment and a $200k mortgage should be a comfortable lifestyle.

not everyone has the same standards. only you can determine that.

-a|ex

[Harmony200]

So i guess i cant live on 50k. Thats not good. My mortgage is not high at all about $700. But i would have to drive to the city so that s going to be expensive plus gas and parking. Maybe I need to reconsider this move.

[BobKovacs]

No one here can say whether you can survive on $50k or not, but plenty of people certainly do it. If you've got piles of debt, car payments, etc., it may be tight, but if not, you should be fine.

[Mishap]

Honestly it depends on your definition of living....

50k w/ 2 dependents means you probably have zero federal income tax liability leaving you ~40-42k to live on. If you keep your mortgage + property tax/or rent + utilities = ~1,000/mon (possible if you don't live in the city proper), then you have about 30,000 toward other expenses and savings. Putting 10% toward savings leaves about ~2k/mon to feed, clothe, and transport your family. If that's worse than your situation in NY, then don't do it unless there's significant long term upside. If you have to buy vehicles and pay for gas, it'll probably take up to a quarter of that remaining 2k/mon of income leaving ~1500 to spend on everything which isn't a lot.

If the salary difference is less than ~15% or so, then it might make sense but anything more major and you'll be taking a hit. Real estate is a lot cheaper but you can rent for fairly low rates relative to buying up there. I considered the opposite and it didn't make sense for me to move up for less than at least a 30% raise and potential for significantly more.

[dan9124]

Cost of Living Wizard | Salary.com

Have you looked at cost of living calculators like the one above? I put ATL as the present location and NYC as the new location, and a $50k job in ATL is equal to a $82k job in NYC, as far as maintaining standards of living goes. That's assuming you live in NYC proper..Play around with it, it could help you out. Also could google "cost of living calculator" to bring up similar tools.

[southkakkatlantan]

Are you determined to make this move? If so, I think the question should be "how" can you survive off of 50k, rather than "can" you survive off 50k.

How a 3-person household will survive off of that amount will depend upon their personal expenses and how well they stick to their budget. Then again, these are general rules that would apply to many households and a variety of incomes.

[noah]

$50k was the medium household income in Ga for 2008 so many live on that. Like others have said the key is having little debt. Its amazing what not having car payments will do to your budget. Using Mishap's example it is very possible and even to save 10% towards your future as well.

[theman6007]

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