Mid 60K salary in Austin. How comfortable can I be? (Late 20s) (San Antonio: apartment, rent)

[beaste]

Any thoughts on this? I live in San Antonio, also used to live in Atlanta. I was just wondering how that will do if I want to live closer to the downtown scene, enjoy a few amenities, etc. Any thoughts appreciated.

[txgolfer130]

Single? If so, you should be okay if you keep your spending in check. Austin is way more expensive than SA & about on 15% higher than the ATL (in general).

[unihills]

With the likely exception of housing how can it be so much more expensive in Austin than SA? I would think gas and groceries are about the same, so what else would contribute? Dining out and housing are pretty subjective and it's mostly about what you're willing to spend to eat and live where you choose.

[iamwayne]

Easy, from paycheckcity.com:

• Monthly Gross Pay $5,000.00
• Federal Withholding $864.90
• Social Security $310.00
• Medicare $72.50
• Texas $0.00

Net Pay $3,752.60

So subtract your new monthly rent for a location closer to downtown and any monthly bills you have to get you the subtotal of your disposable income. Your disposable income amount will let you know if you can live comfortable.

Don't know what your expectations of comfortable is, everyone is different.

[riaelise]

You can do fine here.

[txgolfer130]

Originally Posted by unihills

With the likely exception of housing how can it be so much more expensive in Austin than SA? I would think gas and groceries are about the same, so what else would contribute? Dining out and housing are pretty subjective and it's mostly about what you're willing to spend to eat and live where you choose.

As they said, live close to downtown. That right there will eat up a lot of the disposable income.

Gas in Austin is about 4-5 cents/gal more. Not a whole lot but enough to make a difference. Groceries are about 12-15% lower in SA. Entertainment is also more in Austin.

There are enough small things right there to make a HUGE difference.

[UTHORNS96]

60k?

You'll do more than fine in Austin unless you're the type that needs to project a six figure image. Making that type of salary in your 20s in Austin? I'd say you're living the dream.

[A-Tex]

You certainly can do it but you're going to need to be careful. That money isn't going to go as far as you're used to in San Antonio so you're going to have to have the discipline to scale back a bit.

[Novacek]

Originally Posted by txgolfer130

As they said, live close to downtown. That right there will eat up a lot of the disposable income.

Gas in Austin is about 4-5 cents/gal more. Not a whole lot but enough to make a difference. Groceries are about 12-15% lower in SA. Entertainment is also more in Austin.

There are enough small things right there to make a HUGE difference.

Not if you compare apples to apples. Sure, if you go from buying everything at HEB to buying everything at whole foods, Austin will cost you more. The cost of living comparisons I found online put groceries either the same or _slightly_ (~5%) cheaper in SA.
Cost of Living Index for Selected U.S. Cities | Infoplease.com

As for gas, you do realize 4-5 cents is about 1% ? You can make that up just by easing off the accelerator or filling up your tires.

[tildahat]

Absolutely you can. Families here get by on less than that. Don't obsess on having the fanciest new condo/apartment or a new BMW, get a nice older apartment in a good location, drive a Civic, or depending on your job, maybe drop the car altogether, join car2go, and you'll be fine.

(Just my suggestion for getting by close to downtown. Take it or leave it of course!)