Salary to "Live Comfortably" (San Jose, Santa Clara: 2013, apartment, lease)

[cbone4]

My boyfriend and I moved to south san jose from Atlanta about 8 months ago, and so far we are regretting the decision.

He currently makes $95k base and I make $70k. Our rent is about $2300/month. Its tough saving money with rent and everything costing so much…

Just curious, how much do you think you need to make to live “comfortably” here? (I.e. Being able to save money while still having a social life)

[Chuck5000]

Depends on how much you spend on housing. At 2300 rent, you probably can't drop down without going way downscale. How much would you like to save every month? Add that to what you're making now.

You should be saving for retirement, for special stuff you may want to buy, maybe also for a house downpayment (what's your schedule?), for an emergency rainy day reserve, and hopefully not other things like medical. If you have kids (again have to ask, what is your schedule? The Bay Area makes you very money-centric) , you have to save for college, and pay for day care if they are young, and possibly spend an additional housing premium for a good area with good schools.

Sounds like you two are at 175k to 200k household, which is OK for renting in the Bay Area middle tiers. But you've seen that you're not wealthy on that salary, and probably stepped down 2 tiers in your housing quality compared to Atlanta. If you want to step back up, question is, what do u want? Luxury? Then double your salary now. A middle middle class existence in the Bay Area with good saving? My guess is maybe $200-225k ish if you stay childless, but add much more if you do have kids. In the inner Bay Area, with close access to the SV job market, I think 250k to 300k is basically lower middle class for a family with children and that has the responsible savings aspirations above. You can look at mortgage calculators online for a sense of how much you'd need to earn to buy a house costing 1m, 1.2m, etc.

My wife and I are around 220k now, and we are living super cheaply, but won't ever be able to afford a basic detached SFH 3/2 with 1500 sq feet in a non-crap location in Santa Clara or San Mateo counties. We will be reevaluating in a few years if we can go to the East Bay and work exclusively in SF. However, there are far, far, far more jobs in Santa Clara county; a lot of people don't realize this. And housing quality at price points below $1m right now is just ****-poor in large swaths of the region. It was not built to grow this fast with such high incomes, and transportation lags, also.

I don't blame you for regretting your decision. I think the Bay Area makes good sense for people who can become highly-paid and work in technology or professional services and can leverage the experience to grow even more, or those own a profitable business. And if you have family here.

But it's not a place anymore for the non-super-ambitious or not-already-wealthy to just casually move to because it's nice and has fun recreation. Those days are gone, unless maybe you're very young and can do an apartment share and can leave in a few years when you get ready to put down roots.

[aramax666]

At 165K for a DINK, You should be doing "okay". Do you file joint? As in, are you maximizing your tax breaks?

I mostly agree with what chuck said. You have to be careful IF you want to save responsibly for the future. The BIG HUMP, to get over, is the housing situation. I think, once you get over that, you may be able to do better.

I am SIOK ( Single Income One Kid). I sacrifice on my social life, somewhat, but I can't complain too much.

In 2013-14, I was SIOK @ 130K/ yr. My rent was 2300-2400 too.

Given that, I would think, you guys, should already be doing better than I was.

You could try raising your pay, its doable here. My pay went up 3x in 7 years.

[cbone4]

we are doing "okay" but the housing situation is what kills us. In Atlanta we were ready to buy a very nice home and now in San Jose, it looks like that may not happen for awhile. Overall its very frustrating. I am interviewing for other positions that pay around 95k which would help, but I don't think it would help enough to afford a house any time soon. Throwing $2300 out the window for rent with nothing to show for it at the end of the lease is what hurts the most ha.

[cbone4]

Originally Posted by aramax666

At 165K for a DINK, You should be doing "okay". Do you file joint? As in, are you maximizing your tax breaks?

I mostly agree with what chuck said. You have to be careful IF you want to save responsibly for the future. The BIG HUMP, to get over, is the housing situation. I think, once you get over that, you may be able to do better.

I am SIOK ( Single Income One Kid). I sacrifice on my social life, somewhat, but I can't complain too much.

In 2013-14, I was SIOK @ 130K/ yr. My rent was 2300-2400 too.

Given that, I would think, you guys, should already be doing better than I was.

You could try raising your pay, its doable here. My pay went up 3x in 7 years.

Are we able to file joint if we are not married but live together?

[nightlysparrow]

Originally Posted by cbone4

Are we able to file joint if we are not married but live together?

No, not federal, only married couples. In CA "registered domestic partners" can file state taxes jointly, but that is a specific legal category with its own rules.

[simboticus]

These kinds of questions are impossible to answer, everyones definition of "live comfortably" is different.

Sounds like what you really mean is, how much do I need to make to buy a house?

Your rent is pretty cheap by local standards. Your salary is pretty decent, compared to averages. You should be able to live comfortably on your current salary IMHO. Which means, you have a roof over your head, you can pay your bills (as long as you don't over spend), you can afford a car payment, you can go out for dinner now and then. Sounds fairly comfortable. No one can answer this question for you.

Chuck says "I think 250k to 300k is basically lower middle class for a family with children" WTF? that is way better than lower middle class. The median household income in SC county is $92,000.

Some of the salary numbers I see thrown around here as "typical" are not typical. They may be typical for high demand, high skill tech jobs, but they are not typical for the population as a whole.

Income data for Santa Clara County

http://statisticalatlas.com/county/C...usehold-Income

[aramax666]

Yes. You won't be buying your dream home soon. But with discipline , you could buy "A home". But, that discipline will eat into your happiness and social life for sure.

Here is what I define, as "live comfortably".
Pay my bills, save for retirement, save some more, spend some money on leisure. I am already there.

"Living in luxury" : Drive the car I want, live in the house I want, Foreign vacation, massive liquid savings. Not there yet.

My solution for feeling that frustration, was to make more money AND want less to "keep up with the trend" .

Originally Posted by cbone4

we are doing "okay" but the housing situation is what kills us. In Atlanta we were ready to buy a very nice home and now in San Jose, it looks like that may not happen for awhile. Overall its very frustrating. I am interviewing for other positions that pay around 95k which would help, but I don't think it would help enough to afford a house any time soon. Throwing $2300 out the window for rent with nothing to show for it at the end of the lease is what hurts the most ha.

[aramax666]

Thats the part I disagree with Chuck. Class is more a function of NW and accumulated wealth.

250K-300K is definitely not lower middle class for family of three. I am in that ballpark, I consider myself, very fortunate, and decently well off. I can meet all my obligations, save a lot at the same time. That IMO , cannot be lower middle class. Middle Middle to Upper middle. In ten years, I will certainly be upper middle class.

I expect to retire very comfortably if my luck holds. But that, I am not too certain of.

[simboticus]

cbone, you never said how old you are, nor do you need to. The point is, if you are in you 20's, $165K is really good. Sure Google is paying some kids right out of MIT or Cal tech $150k, but that is the rare exception. On this site people seem to compare everything to these rare exceptions, not the norm for the overall population, it's not even the norm for high tech as a whole.

If you are in your 40's, $165k is not so great, just average for the overall population. And is pretty low for an experienced professional couple, tech workers, the demo that makes of many of the people in this valley, including me.