In February we asked Bostonians to estimate how much you need to earn per year to live “comfortably” in Boston. The baseline for comfort was not living paycheck to paycheck, ability to pay your bills, income for travel, entertainment, and emergencies, and flexible disposable income. Your answers summarized to “a lot of money,” and significantly higher than Boston’s median salary.
So, how much do you need to make to live in Boston?
Only a month later, SmartAsset revealed the exact, data-backed numbers. To live “comfortably” in Boston you need to earn $124,966 as a single adult or $319,738 for two working adults with two dependents.
Our readers’ guesses weren’t far off, with the average estimation for a single person hovering around $150,000 if you hope to “live alone without roommates or splitting rent.” For family earnings, guesses were around $100,000 per person, or $400,000 for a family of four. While Bostonians’ estimates (or unconscious desires) were higher than those determined by SmartAsset but still nearly double what most Bostonians actually rake in.
What is the median salary in Boston?
Those numbers seem criminal when you learn that Boston’s median salary is $88,000.
According to PayScale, the cost of living for Bostonians has grown 50% in the past year, yet wages have gone down 3.2%. This salary would only be enough to live comfortably in the SmartAsset’s ten cities with the “lowest salaries needed to live comfortably,” which are mainly based in Texas and the mid-west. All of America’s “most expensive cities to live comfortably” in are on the west and east coasts.
America’s ‘most expensive cities to live comfortably in’
The bad news is Boston made this list, and many of us are experiencing the repercussions on the daily. According to the salary estimates, Bostonians need to earn an equivalent of $60 per hour to live “comfortably.” The most recent median hourly pay in Boston is $38.85 according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor, about half of what you actually need to make.
The good news is, we’re not the most expensive on the list. Here are the top 10 cities with the highest salaries needed to live comfortably and the respective salaries needed for single adults (S) and families of four (F):
- New York City, New York (S: $138,570; F: $318,406)
- San Jose, California (S: $136,739; F: $334,547)
- Irvine, California (S: $126,7979; F: $291,450)
- Santa Ana, California (S: $126,797; F: $291, 450)
- Boston, Massachusetts (S: $124,966; F: $319,738)
- San Diego, California (S: $122,803; F: $289, 453)
- Chula Vista, California (S: $122,803; F: $289,453)
- San Francisco, California (S: $119,558; F: $339,123)
- Seattle, Washington (S: $119,392; F: $283,712)
- Oakland, California (S: $118,768; $316,243)
Methodology
SmartAsset, an online destination for financial advice and data, utilized the MIT Living Wage Calculator data calculator to find information on the basic cost of living in American cities. Analysts employed the 50/20/30 rule to define “comfort,” 50% of salary allocated to expenses, 30% for wants, and 20% for financial growth and debt payments.