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As others have stated on here you should spend 25% or less of what you clear on rent and utilities. If you start going above that it's when you start running into problems. I get paid weekly and what I clear every week is enough to pay for my rent and usually the monthly electric bill. I count my internet/cable bill as something separate but if you throw that in there along with food, gas, my separate life insurance policy and car insurance it's still less then what I clear in two checks. For arguments sake we'll say that's two full paychecks though. That gives me 25% of my monthly pay to screw around with if I want to and the other 25% to save. Your mileage may very though considering others save more money and others spend more money.
We pay 55%. They raised our rent $100 this year. Our only income is my SSDI. My husband is also disabled but not receiving benefits. We get a little food stamps and go to food banks. We can't afford to move even if we could find a cheaper place.
We love our apartment and are happy here for the most part. It gets tough at times and we end up pawning our stuff at the end of every month. I am just thankful we are not homeless...yet.
I'm curious about how much of income is spent on rent. I've often heard that 25% of gross income is a good number to go by, but in reality when I look and see how much rent costs are in most non-ghetto areas, the numbers don't seem to reflect that. Or maybe I'm just a lot poorer than I think I am.
How much of your income do YOU spend on rent?
Before the house was paid off we spent about 12% for mortgage payment, insurance and real estate taxes.
Now it's down to 3% with real estate taxes and insurance.
We spend 25% of our gross income and 35% of our net income on rent. We live in So Cal and the COL here is honestly ridiculous compared to other parts of the country.
Yes I'm roughly at those numbers and I live in the bay area. Most renters here are forking out even more, from my experience. I'm at about 25% gross despite making six figures and renting a 1BR apartment in an ordinary section of San Jose. Sux.
Location: New Albany, Indiana (Greater Louisville)
11,974 posts, read 25,462,489 times
Reputation: 12187
With only my income...
30% / 26%
Counting my wife's income too..
15% / 13%
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