Survey: More Than 1 In 4 Americans Feel They Need To Make $150,000 Or More To Live Comfortably
Survey: More Than 1 In 4 Americans Feel They Need To Make $150,000 Or More To Live Comfortably | Bankrate
Who cares what people "feel"? It has nothing to do with "feelings". Just calculate how much it actually costs to live comfortably, and you'll find that $150k works.
You can't define "comfortably" without feeling.
Feelings are important because without them, there would be a concrete number of dollars at which a person starves to death. One more dollar and they live. Once we know that number, the right wing will begin pushing everyone towards it.
Feelings are important because I want to enjoy a twinkie every now and then. I want to be able to afford a day off for mental health, or a friend's birthday. There should be healthy ambiguity in the number of dollars it costs to live because without it there's just near-starvation.
Wanting a Twinkie here and there and a new iPad/car every year is very different. What you want is found pretty much anywhere that isn't touched by imperialism and war in general, lol. But maybe the average American can't be happy and comfortable without many expensive toys? Or life is just expensive AF invariably there, idk.
Yeah, this hits home all right. I'm Gen-X, and while I always got by OK on a very low income even here in Seattle, it was entirely due to have a very modest lifestyle and the sheer luck of that rarest of Seattle unicorns, reasonable rent.
The stars aligned, and over the course of only a few years I've suddenly moved into a very comfortable 6 figure salary, and oh holy jebus words cannot express how much stress just…evaporates…when you've got enough to cover all expenses and easily sock away some money too.
Of course, that was promptly replaced by a new stress, the realization that I might just possibly thread the needle and end up with a comfortable retirement—not rich mind you, just not in penury—but I now had to save, save, save, save, save.
Work affords me access to both a 403B and a 457B, which has helped immensely in my quest to get savings built up appropriate for my age bracket, but all that anxiety is back now that I've got a retirement fund that was on track, but now the orange twitiot is doing his damndest to wreck our economy, likely for good. I'm just waiting to watch everything I've invested go up in smoke. It's nerve-wracking, but hey, at least I'm Gen-X and know exactly what it's like to live with existential dread. After a childhood fearing nuclear holocaust at any moment, this new anxiety is practically a cakewalk!
Oh, who am I kidding? It still sucks.
Fuck.
Just want to say, to a fellow slacker, I get you. OTOH, my nerves aren't too wrecked yet. Like you, I know how to be poor, but fuck me, I didn't expect an environmental and political holocaust to drop on my old ass.
"Feel" nice trick to make it sound like they are spoiled and not just doing basic math to figure out that everything is expensive.
The other way to read this data is that 75% (a sizable majority) of people feel they can be comfortable on less than $150k. I also suspect this strongly correlates to location. Someone living in Washington, DC is going to need a lot more to feel comfortable than someone living in Bumblefuck, MO.
Particularly since that has to also include investing for later retirement in an entirely uncertain economic future.
Why is the cost of living so incredibly high in the US?
It cannot be because of consumer goods. Because both Europe and the US have similar prices for those since they are made by international companies.
It cannot be food, the US is a big exporter of food. And those exports go to countries with lower costs of living.
It cannot be vacations. You could "just" fly to Europe and have european vacation prices.
Is it just housing and healthcare?
That's a large portion of it yes. Don't forget that 150k salary is before taxes. The cost of food has sky rocketed lately. Don't forget transportation. If you live in a big city you might take a bus or Metro, but for most Americans there isn't a good network so add gas, car insurance, and possibly a car payment if you don't own. And if you have kids get ready for child care expenses, unless you have a stay at home parent... But then you only have one income. Rent, utilities, little glasses for Timmy, cell phone bills and those TV subscriptions you're slowly sailing the high seas on as they nickel and dime you. It all adds up.
Europeans also buy little glasses for Timmy and such. I don't think the price of those kind of things is much different. Same for utilities, phone and TV. The one I'm most uncertain about is utilities, but I believe electricity at least is usually cheaper in america.
The car one is fair. Although it's true that in Europe there's also tons of people on cars, public transit is at least a valid option, unlike in much of the US.
Taxes is not though. Taxes in america are usually way lower than in Europe.
So transportation+healthcare are the only expenses that are clearly more expensive in america. Housing being highly dependant on location is hard to compare nation-based. And it's also the biggest component. I'd be curious to see the actual "living wage" difference between two places, one Europeans and another American with similar housing prices.
Wage theft. Seriously, it is the biggest drain of money from ordinary workers.
Housing is expensive in the UK as well isn't it? Most times I hear prices they seem pretty comparable. Just like the US there is also a large variation by location of course, cities completely unaffordable and towns just very expensive.
Around me is ~65m² bungalows, £225-275k in a town quite a long way from London, along the south coast. London prices scare me so I try and pretend nothing exists within the M25.
1 in 4 sounds more than ~25% but it’s 25% that’s a minority that feel this way, it’s not a reflection of most of our realities. Yes the cost of living is too high but ~75% don’t feel we need $150,000 to be comfortable
That's fair. Although I need to point out that the title literally says "more than 1 in 4" which makes it kinda funny.
Yes it is housing and healthcare. Even with health insurance, a major sickness can bankrupt anybody, especially when insurance denies coverage.
Which is why I'm considering a Do Not Resuscitate. I don't want some asshole EMT to bring me back.
Well, it would be incredibly naive to omit or not factor in all the tax-raping. You make $150K, good for you, but you don't get to keep that. Using my state, I Googled how much money is stolen when you earn $150K...they steal $45,442. Leaving you with $104,558. How generous of them. 🙄
So the average person wants to make $150K annually SO THEY CAN KEEP just slightly over $100K. Then yes, the health care & the bills & the savings & the spending. It can chew through $100K quickly enough.
oh fun, an actual "taxation is theft" person. i'm assuming you don't drive?
Ignoring all the taxation is theft bullshit, my original question is how is america so expensive that living wages are considered 8x of the highest minimum wages of europe (Less than 20k).
America has lower taxes than any European country. So that cannot be the answer.
Wow I can't believe how little you understand about what taxes are and how they work. The US has some of the lowest tax rates compared to its peers.
Those are pretty low taxes
Half of California:
(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
Half by land, much more by population. California’s basic cost of living is insane. $150k would be “barely scraping by in a studio apartment” within 100 miles of any major city.
With the exception of places like Anzo Borrego, but there's a reason for that. Horrible summers and winters.
THE RENT
IS
TOO
DAMN
HIGH
The true checkmate on our society.
Trying to find a place to live where the rent won't take over 50% of my income. I work full time teaching disabled children, and after successfully negotiating for a raise, I make over $10 more per hour than my state's minimum wage.
Yet for some reason, everyone takes issue when I say I'm ready to just move into my car. I've lived in a vehicle before, it's not fun or easy, but it's a roof I already own, and from the rent prices I see, that's the best chance I've got to be guaranteed shelter.
I don't nees to make more, everything else needs to cost less. 😠
I just need a dwelling and a guarantee of food to live comfortably. If I didn't have to pay for that I wouldn't need $150k/year. 🤷♂️
You forgot healthcare!
My wife and I make about $100k/yr combined. I can absolutely confirm that 50% more money will go directly into making our lives more comfortable.
wow, what afucking shithole of an economic system, huh?
This title is so dumb. Just say 26% of Americans.
I got lucky enough to live on benefits, a bit less than $15,000 annually. While I don't have to pay for housing, things like food, data, and car take up a good chunk of that money. Up until about 2 years ago, I was also able to regularly set aside about $300 a month for an ABLE account if I exercised restraint.
The economy continues to worsen, so I can't save money anymore. Plus, getting the gear and training for joining a militia takes a fair bit of coin. I am expecting the USA we knew to dissolve someday, and hopefully can support my state with my body if conflict breaks out. Don't really have anything else to offer society.
Nothing will meaningfully improve until the rich fear for their lives
I mean yeah. I make above that and it feels genuinely hard to keep up with the costs of living middle class in California.
When I was single I was comfortable with £11k which is adjusted for inflation from 2016. Maybe some of you are miserable because you think you need expensive things to be happy.
There are a few expensive things I find necessary in the modern world. Those being food and a roof over my head. If you have suggestions for going without either of those, I’m all ears. Otherwise, fuck off with that nonsense.
Or maybe you lived in an environment where some of those expenses were socialized via a broad social net - or you have connections via friends and family that you've underestimated the value of (a friend with a truck is cheaper to buy lunch for than renting movers). If I had reliable access to food shelter transportation and information at negligible costs (assuming ~$800/month constitutes low cost rent), I can totally imagine living within a budget of $15k/year (covering pounds to USD).
However, I used to live in Phoenix but moved due to the rental crisis. Simple clean 1 bedroom apartments are going for $1600/month, which blows your budget in rent alone. (The lowest rate I could find was $750/month, but you had to be officially poor ("restricted income") to qualify).
But before I condemn you in assumptions, maybe I'm wrong - would you be willing to break down your living expenses for those who would follow in your path?
Didn't even have friends when I moved, got a bedroom in a shared house. £425 and today with inflation you can find similar for £500-600 a month across most of the UK outside of cities anyway. That is bills included.
So the only essential spending left really is food. Currently that costs me about £60/month from Aldi but I am earning more now. If I had to cut back I don't know exactly how much I could reduce it to. £30-50 would be pretty easy to cut back to by cutting out meat and cheese while £10 would be high carb poverty food and possibly scurvy.
The rest I saved or spent on fun things. Life was pretty good as I made friends with some of the other guys living there. Moving house I did with a bag and a few bin liners, I barely owned anything in the first place so I just carried stuff and took a train.
Yeah, sounds about right if you want to be able to be comfortable at home and have money for maybe a modest vacation once a year.
I make way less, but it would be nice to be able to afford to travel at least once a year. Not worry about car repairs setting me back etc etc.
Don't forget any shot at a reasonable retirement too
I’m planning to die to reduce my spend.