Good Salary in PDX?

[urbanlife78]

Originally Posted by lanhvtnymd

I'm going to guess the Pearl District is like Otterbein or Federal Hill in Baltimore....definitely am not willing to pay to live some place like that. It would be 700 a month if I had approximately $50,000 in all subsidized Stafford loans, yes. Unfortunately grad school did not work out that way! I made around $60,000 when I lived in Vermont before grad school, and it was a squeeze. I do not just want to "get by". I'd like to get by plus lagniappe. So unless the job I interviewed for comes through on a better salary (fingers crossed, but not holding my breath), it's less risky to stay where I am and defer a dream of living on the west coast a bit longer. But thanks for the insight.

Sounds like a smart choice, we have too many people moving to Oregon without jobs that it hurts our unemployment numbers that should be improving.

[pdxmilw]

Originally Posted by urbanlife78

Sounds like a smart choice, we have too many people moving to Oregon without jobs that it hurts our unemployment numbers that should be improving.

but she has a 67,000 offer.

[urbanlife78]

Originally Posted by pdxmilw

but she has a 67,000 offer.

Oh, well in that case it would be silly not to take a $67K job in Portland if one really wants to move here. I can definitely I wouldn't be just "getting by" on that amount, I would be living very good here, especially in my current living situation.

[bler144]

Originally Posted by lanhvtnymd

I'm going to guess the Pearl District is like Otterbein or Federal Hill in Baltimore....definitely am not willing to pay to live some place like that. It would be 700 a month if I had approximately $50,000 in all subsidized Stafford loans, yes. Unfortunately grad school did not work out that way! I made around $60,000 when I lived in Vermont before grad school, and it was a squeeze.

Vermont isn't cheap - arguably there are ways to live comfortably in Portland that are as or more affordable than much of VT.

I'm curious what your loan portfolio looks like.

Assuming it's all federal, worst-case you could go on IBR, which would have a monthly payment of around $625 at that income level for a single person, no kids, regardless of how much you borrowed. If you borrowed from banks in a private loan program, well, that gets more complex.

And FWIW, your math is off. If you borrowed 50k in Sub Stafford loans even at the max interest rate the payment would be $575/mo

Your take-home should still be around $3900/mo. Even if you were paying $1,000/mo in loans you could probably budget it out, esp. when you consider that the student loan interest deduction should net you a bit extra back at tax time.

[Annilyna]

I'm making the move myself to the Portland area soon (not getting anything splashy in the middle or close to downtown mind you), but I'm purchasing a small duplex in one of the surrounding cities and I make around $67k. However, I don't have a huge student loan debt that Ianhvtnymd does (my student loan is ALMOST paid off thank goodness). Ianhvtnymd, I still think you can certainly afford to live comfortably on that income. I would just be smart in terms of how much your housing costs will be, and what your travel expenses are (e.g. gas) going to and from work. I guess it depends on how willing you are to make the move - you could certainly make it happen.

[lanhvtnymd]

Originally Posted by bler144

Vermont isn't cheap - arguably there are ways to live comfortably in Portland that are as or more affordable than much of VT.

I'm curious what your loan portfolio looks like.

Assuming it's all federal, worst-case you could go on IBR, which would have a monthly payment of around $625 at that income level for a single person, no kids, regardless of how much you borrowed. If you borrowed from banks in a private loan program, well, that gets more complex.

And FWIW, your math is off. If you borrowed 50k in Sub Stafford loans even at the max interest rate the payment would be $575/mo

Your take-home should still be around $3900/mo. Even if you were paying $1,000/mo in loans you could probably budget it out, esp. when you consider that the student loan interest deduction should net you a bit extra back at tax time.

I'll be the first to admit my math has never been the best, so no ego when it comes to it, correct away.

But I should restate, it's not all federal, and it's not all sub Stafford: the bulk is federal, but the bulk of the bulk as far as interest goes is unsubsidized Stafford and PLUS. Also, several posts back I said I have federal AND private loans. The federal loans were at a public university in upstate New York; the private loans were for classes I took to finish up my degree at a private school in Baltimore when I left school to accept my current job around 4 years ago. It was a good move at the time because it was an offer during the recession, with the federal government, and the highest salary I'd ever been offered. That's the most I will say out here.

Perhaps I am unnecessarily debt-averse. I finished undergrad with exactly zero debt because I ran down every scholarship dollar I could and I lived at home most of the time. After that, I spent almost 8 years being virtually debt free with only a car payment and whining about putting $250 for a plane ticket on a credit card now and then. That was the extent of my debt problems. So having this monkey on my back now is very uncomfortable. I'll admit I could just get a second job on the weekends, but because of the work I do full-time, getting a job on the weekends isn't that easy in my field. So I'm kind of in my own little debt hell right now.

In the meantime I'm hoping I get a better counteroffer. But regardless I'm planning to move to a cheaper apartment so that I can save more, pay back the banks at a faster pace, and one day make a big move. Because I am so over the beast that is the East.

[lanhvtnymd]

Originally Posted by Annilyna

I'm making the move myself to the Portland area soon (not getting anything splashy in the middle or close to downtown mind you), but I'm purchasing a small duplex in one of the surrounding cities and I make around $67k. However, I don't have a huge student loan debt that Ianhvtnymd does (my student loan is ALMOST paid off thank goodness). Ianhvtnymd, I still think you can certainly afford to live comfortably on that income. I would just be smart in terms of how much your housing costs will be, and what your travel expenses are (e.g. gas) going to and from work. I guess it depends on how willing you are to make the move - you could certainly make it happen.

Thanks for the additional vote of confidence. If I didn't have this debt or they offered me a bit more, I'd do it in a heart beat. I'm pretty sure I could do it if I got a roommate, but I'm in my early 30s and I really don't want to do that again. I got a taste of living alone and as Carrie's mom would say, I liked it. If I accept the job, I'd do what I've done with every other job I've had: look for some place close to work. I am not trying to live in exclusive neighborhoods and shop at Whole Foods as someone said earlier. There are plenty of places in the mid-Atlantic to do that.

[thequeen1]

Originally Posted by bler144

Getting back to the original question, I agree with others - what you can get by on depends on your circumstances.

If I were 24 and single with no kids, renting a room (6-7k per year, including utils) and mostly getting around by bike/transit, I could get by just fine on 30k gross a year.

With a young child, renting in the current market is tight at 50-60k a year, because housing alone will eat a minimum of 12k, and probably closer to 18k in after-tax income, plus your health insurance premiums will typically be higher. If you need childcare, that's another 12k per year, and the tax credits are fairly small.

If you are that same family, but bought a house in 1999, or maybe even in 2009 (but not 2002-2007 or 2012-present), you could probably be at least getting by on 50k, provided you had good employer-provided insurance.

i'm so glad I am retired. i'm on a fixed income now as I was disabled in 08 and am in a wheelchair. the job I had was a word processing job and it is a job that is now obsolete; in the 80s when I first started doing it, it was a thriving career, but with the use of personal computers, lap tops, etc., companies no longer need the type of service I offered. the word processing arena was very lucrative. I was in the bay area and made 70k when I left. when we moved up here (way before my accident), I knew I would have to take a cut -- boy oh boy was it a cut! I felt lucky to be able to make $20.00/hr and when I took a job in the field, I had to work at night and was making $22/h; when I had the accident I was up to 23.50. now with soc sec and my compensation from my accident I pull in what I did when I was working; I was able to buy a house (cash from lawsuit) outright, so I have no house payment, just taxes and utilities. even though I'm a banged up mess, and crippled up I feel very blessed. I think it would be a safe assumption that most people do not even make $20.00/hr and would feel like millionaires if they could get 65 k. housing is through the roof; we were looking to rent before the lawsuit and for what we needed we would have to pay 1500/mo and we couldn't find it. I looked for 3 years (we're picky cuz of handicap needs) so good luck to everyone who thinks they can live comfortably on less than 65k; life is a struggle.

[bler144]

Originally Posted by lanhvtnymd

I'll be the first to admit my math has never been the best, so no ego when it comes to it, correct away.

But I should restate, it's not all federal, and it's not all sub Stafford: the bulk is federal, but the bulk of the bulk as far as interest goes is unsubsidized Stafford and PLUS.

Fair enough.

If you want to PM me your portfolio breakout (amount in Stafford/PLUS/non-fed, and the rate on the non-fed loans), I can take a gander and at least potentially offer you an opinion on how to structure your repayment.

And on how that might be viable/not on your salary in Portland.

Presumably you are at least taking advantage of the tax deduction for the loan interest - that's worth something at least