How much income is good enough?
Generally, an income that comfortably covers living expenses, allows for savings, and provides for leisure activities is considered good. In the United States, median household income is around $68,700 according to recent data. However, in cities with higher costs of living, a good salary might be considerably higher.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the national average salary in 2021 was $58,260. Although wages above the average could be seen as a good salary, there are no hard and fast rules regarding how to determine a good salary since there are many factors involved.
On average, an individual needs $96,500 for sustainable comfort in a major U.S. city. This includes being able to pay off debt and invest for the future.
Overall, SmartAsset found that to live comfortably in any major city, you need to make about $96,500 annually, up immensely from the nearly $68,500 it estimated last year. A family of four would need to make much more at $235,000 to avoid living paycheck to paycheck.
Lower middle class: Those in the 20th to 40th percentile of household income, between $28,008 and $55,000. Middle class: Those in the 40th to 60th percentile of household income, ranging from $55,001 to $89,744. Upper middle class: Households in the 60th to 80th percentile, with incomes between $89,745 and $149,131.
A single person needs upwards of $80,000 a year to live comfortably in California, survey data shows. California is not known for its affordability, but exactly how much it takes for a single person to live comfortably here might surprise you.
In that case, $3000 is no good, and your best option for a comfortable living is to look for alternative income streams or find a new job that pays more. In short, it's possible to live on $3000 a month (but comfortably or not, that depends on your circ*mstances).
By any objective measure it is a high salary. Sure, you can find people with higher salaries. But at that rate you would be at least in the top 5–8% of U.S. incomes, and close to the top 0.1% globally. Certainly, what you can do with it will depend where you live.
The average household's monthly expenses are $6,081 ($72,967 over the entire year). That's up from $5,557 ($66,928 over the entire year) in 2022. The average annual income after taxes is $83,195, up from $78,743 in 2022. Housing is the largest average cost at $2,025 per month, making up 33% of typical spending.
What is a good income to survive?
This popular general budgeting rule allocates 50% of annual income to necessities like housing, 30% to discretionary expenses like travel, and the remaining 20% to savings. The median necessary living wage across the entire US is $67,690.
There is no one answer to how much money you need to make to live comfortably, but one oft-used rule of thumb in budgeting is the 50/30/20 rule — which calls for half your income to go to necessities, 20% to savings and investments, and 30% for splurges and fun.
2022 | 2022 | |
---|---|---|
Monthly | Annually | |
One person | $3,693 | $44,312 |
Family of two | $6,372 | $76,468 |
Family of three | $7,189 | $86,265 |
$30 an hour is how much a year? If you make $30 an hour, your yearly salary would be $62,400.
$80,000 a year is how much an hour? If you make $80,000 a year, your hourly salary would be $38.46.
$50,000 yearly is how much per hour? If you make $50,000 per year, your hourly salary would be $24.04.
For the purposes of this article, those with an income in the bottom 20 percentile will be identified as lower class, followed by lower-middle class (up to 40th percentile), middle class (up to 60th percentile), upper-middle class (up to 80th percentile) with the remainder considered upper class.
There are three U.S. cities where people making a $150,000 income qualify as lower middle class and two of them are in California, according to recent research from GOBankingRates.
Percentage of individuals making over 100k
In 2019, 9% of Americans had a six-figure income. In 2021, the percentage of Americans making over 100k a year decreased slightly – compared to 2019, when 1,000,000 fewer people made over 100k a year. That percentage now stood at 8.7%.
For example, at current mortgage rates, borrowers with an FHA loan and a 10% down payment would need to earn about $70,000 a year to afford a $400,000 house. Borrowers with a conventional loan and a 20% down payment would need a salary of $100,000 or more.
How much house can I afford making $80,000 a year?
Following the 28/36 rule, with your $80,000 income, you want your monthly housing payments to stay below $1,866. If we assume a 30-year loan at 6.5 percent interest, with a traditional 20 percent down payment, that means you can likely afford a home of about $310,000.
Earning $25 per hour puts you well above the poverty line, especially if you're single. With careful budgeting and financial planning, $25 is still a viable hourly wage. Even though it's not a particularly high hourly rate, it's still well above the minimum wage rate in most areas.
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