Relocation to Plantation - income question (Fort Lauderdale, Lee: apartment, to rent, mortgage)

[eidinovm]

Hi All,

I'm relocating to Plantation with my spouse.
I was offered a 65K salary and I was wondering if it is enough for a couple and if not how much is? as I would like to know how much my spouse will "need to bring home".

I searched the web and found some data regarding the median household income ([URL]//www.city-data.com/income/income-Plantation-Florida.html[/URL]), but this data goes back to 2011/12.
Hope someone can shed some light here as I'm not sure if this accurate and relevant.

Thank you advance.

[Mr. Lee]

Hard to say since we all live different lives, there are places where rent alone would eat up the 65k and other nice places where you can rent for $2000 a month and other places where you can rent for under $800 a month. You have to look at how much rent you will be paying, will you have car payments etc. My wife and I can easily live on $65,000 but we do not have to have the best phones, or the best data plan, or cable with all the bells and whistles, or a home phone with all that is available, it is not how much a person makes but how much they spend. Start with your known items and work from there.

[fsu00]

Like Mr. Lee said, it really depends on your lifestyle. I make about that currently and lived in a 2/2 apartment in downtown Fort Lauderdale for $2000 (with a roommate.) I also have a car, student loans, and cell phone (among other things.) I went out to nice dinners, had an active social life, and still went shopping and on vacations. You may not be able to save a ton depending on your lifestyle, but you should be just fine if you budget yourself well.

[JohnD_fla]

Where in Plantation? This city isn't very big but housing in the central and western parts of it is more expensive than in the eastern part. Are you planning to rent or buy? If you plan to buy you may find that $65k will not qualify you for a mortgage for most houses in the nicer parts of Plantation. Other costs may also be higher depending on where you're moving from.

Its difficult to figure how much you will need without knowing more details about how much you spend on average per month. For instance..car note, student loans, medical bills, credit card payments... Also according to your lifestyle...how much do you spend on clothes, vacations, eating out, entertainment, etc.

[LissetteRob]

Just behind the old Motorola campus now new Plantation Pointe there are several villa communities that if remodeled offer great square footage at unheard of low prices compared to the rest of Plantation. That corner there seems to be the up and coming place for the south eastern part of Plantation.

[BrowardNole]

It probably isn't enough, regardless of your lifestyles. I'd say she would need to bring in at least 40K.

[Nolefan34]

What does your wife do? Does she work currently? Do you have children/dependents? If not, I would say if she can combine to add another $30-40 K you would be fine. The general rule of thumb is to keep housing costs at 25% or less of your income. If you make $65K combined, you should spend no more than $1354/mo on rent. If you want $2000/mo rent, you should combine to earn at least $96K, so your wife would have to earn $31K.

As others mentioned though, different people have different lifestyles. A family of 5 is going to have much higher expenses than a family of 2 with no kids. If you have 2 car payments, that will add substantially to your expenses.