amount of inconme to feel middle class. (Hilo, Kailua: rent, how much)
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Hello, i would like to get a opinion from Hawaii residents especially ones from the big island. i currently live on a income of 80 grand a year. such income allows my family and i to feel relatively middle class. I'm curious if the same income would sustain at least a lower middle class life style on the big island?
I should also add that feeling fairly middle class to me means: driving used but very good condition cars, owning a smaller respectable looking home, going on a family vacation once a year, and not living pay check to paycheck.
Last edited by emeraldl22; 04-08-2014 at 12:59 PM..
Where are you now? That has a lot to do with how the comparison will land for you. Coming from NYC or San Francisco you'll find Cost of Living a little lower on the Big Island, about the same on Oahu. Coming from rural America you could find the Big Island to be 20% more expensive, and Oahu 40% more.
Well, that depends, but with $80K and on the Big Island, you'd probably be solid middle class to a bit towards upper middle class. It depends on the size of your family, obviously six kids in a family will cost more than one or two. It also depends on how well you manage budgets and finance and such.
An annual family vacation will be expensive, can a typical middle class family take a Hawaiian vacation each year? It costs us just as much for a mainland vacation as it does mainland folks to take a Hawaiian vacation. If you vacation in the islands every other year, that might make the annual vacations affordable.
You can pick up a good used car pretty easy. If you pay cash, that saves on payments.
A "smaller respectable looking home" might depend on what exactly that means. Most Hawaii houses are much smaller than their mainland counterparts, but mostly that's because we spend a lot more time outside. A three bedroom can start around 1,000 square feet on up, but it's how much land it's sitting on that opens up the amount of space available to live in. And location matters more than the house itself in most cases. But it shouldn't be a problem.
The best way I've found for not living paycheck to paycheck is to put the paycheck into savings and then port about 75% of it into a checking account and ignore the savings account until or unless it is absolutely needed. That somehow manages to grow a savings account fairly painlessly.
Well - since annual median household income on the Big Island is about $52K, 25% either side of that number would suggest $39,000 to $65,000 would be middle class by Big Island standards.
Although I doubt that income would meet your standards of middle class in your post depending on how many kids you have, especially the living paycheck to paycheck, and annual vacations.
What's your actual family size? 2 adults and a baby are different than, like, 2 adults, grandma and 3 teens. This also defines the size of a 'respectable home' and hence its price. What's your need for infrastructure? Proximity to shopping, public transportation, schools, hospital, county water and electric, beaches, west/sunny side, restaurants, make that 'respectable home' much more expensive. But if you earn $ 80k (online job?) you are above average.
I live in vt which is not the cheapest state. My house is 1800 square feet, I wouldn't mind going down to 1200. My yard is really small like .14 of a acre. Which is fine with me. I have two kids young enough to share a room if need be. My husband built our house so home improvements won't be a issue as long as materials are available. I do think we would have to forgo a vacation every year for every other year to the main land. My husband can work from a remote location and although I'm not counting it as possible income I hold degrees and experience in social work and early childhood ed. Particularly in educating children in crises due to homelessness. So perhaps I could find work if need be.
Last edited by emeraldl22; 04-08-2014 at 02:44 PM..
On the Big Island your budget looks workable to me, if anything you might be able to save a bit here and there. You'd probably get a same size or even slightly bigger house, get more land more than likely and possibly still have annual instead of semi-annual vacations. With that level of income, you could probably add in a few more "wants" on your list.
Money goes further on the Hilo side of the island, although it rains a bit there. Generally more of the downpour and then sunshine type of rain than the week long drizzle sort, though. North of Hilo up to Waimea is lovely, that's called the Hamakua Coast. If you can manage property along that side of the island, gardening is great and there is usually less crime. I like to think it is jaw dropping gorgeous, too, but that's just my opinion. Actually, most places on the island are beautiful even if it is in their own way. Kohala is another area we go to for gorgeousness. Kohala is nice, although a bit remote, but very much "old Hawaii" in flavor. Kailua-Kona district gets a lot of sunshine, although they now have vog (volcanic haze) to contend with and they are the touristy area. Southpoint is rather remote from just about everywhere and also has vog considerations. Parts of Puna have lava concerns, more crime, a lot less soil but property values are a lot less. Volcano has a lovely artsy community, but it is small and remote. Also gets a bit cold there.
It might be worthwhile to select an area and rent there for awhile while checking out the rest of the island to find the perfect place. There's so many to choose from.
You didn't specify, so I used Burlington, VT for a cost of living calculation...
Hilo comes out reasonably close, showing as 9% more expensive. You'd need an income of about $87K in Hilo to live like you do on $80K in Burlington.
Kailua-Kona has more expensive homes, and overall shows as 32% more expensive
than Burlington. It would take an income of $105.5K in Kailua-Kona to enjoy the same standard of living as $80 K would get you in Burlington.
Of course, to be fair you have to compare net income, not gross. Hawai'i has a state income tax.
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