If you're single and no kids, 35k/year in Houston is plenty of money provided you aren't always keeping up with the jones. contrary to popular belief things like cable, iphones, and brand new cars are not a necessity. forgoing those things doesn't mean you're living like a hermit either.
Hell, if I were single with no kids and no debt, I could probably live very comfortably in Houston on 30K/year.
The only thing you'd struggle with is saving for retirement. That's what a lot of people don't think about. You can live off of $35-45 thousand, but when you live to 95 and can't work you will hate your situation. You can do it, but you need to be very smart with your money, and most Americans aren't.
You can definitely live off of 35k a year. Your biggest expense will be housing. As long as you don't splurge and spend 1000 a month on a apartment in rice village you'll be fine.
Most any amount is livable comes down to approach and your situation. Sounds like you are not needing to care for dependants right? No child support for that chick you knocked up? You can live in a roommate situation and that significantly can help to reduce living expenses. There all kinds of people looking to share costs of living on craiglist. So you can keep your distance and don't necessarily have to live with a buddy if you dont want to. There are 1 bedroom efficiency living situations but then you are paying full on cable, water, electricity etc. If you live near work that will help keep transportation costs down. I agree that you dont want to try to be baller and get a bmw that is older for status, and then throw it all away on repair costs. So either way whether you get a clunker or not living near to work is advised. also commuting sucks. Other of course is food. That's an obvious one but definitely can be a big part of it. I dont think eating out is the end of the world as some people claim since cooking for one can sometimes be wasteful. Just gotta try to limit the caviar dinners. Really it also is how much are you paying out now it ongoing debt? Do you have credit card payments? Car payments? insurance payments? other set expenses not in the food,transport (gas), lodging category? If no, then yes 30k to 40k is livable. 30k I believe is approx around 700 every 2 weeks after taxes. So make a budget and see what your numbers look like: http://www.budgetworksheets.org/ If you are a forklift operator making 7 bucks an hour and driving a $700 dollar car payment for your phat ass tahoe with rims.. guess what? aint gonna work
An apartment in rice village for $1000? Sign me up...unless its infested with rats. Rent inside the loop has gone up drastically. I'm paying $2300 a month for a 1 bedroom. Total ripoff.
If you make $35k a year then $1000 a month apartment would be half of your take home salary. I do not consider that reasonable.
No, but no matter your income, $1000 is a pretty reasonable amount to expect to pay if you're living by yourself in Houston. I just don't see it as "splurging".
in the suburbs you can pay $500 for a spacious 1 bedroom. In Houston you have a choice. I would never pay that much for a 1 bedroom if I were making 35k a year in HOUSTON, because I can go to the suburbs and get a spacious unit for a fraction of that. If I were making that in NYC and I had no choice but to spend at least that, then I'd he looking to share a room with someone lol.
Well, I'm not really counting the suburbs as "Houston". You also have to take into account the commute you'll have if you work in town. When I used to commute, I was spending ~$200 to $300 easy on gas/tolls/depreciation of car.
You live above Eddie V's don't you. W/A? I've been watching the construction of the new luxury apts. being built on TC Jester/Washington and starting rent there is around $1500 for 700 square feet.
