What's the minimum income to live comfortably in your city?

[ikerrin]

Ok, I'm not talking about living in a Park Avenue Penthouse, but just to rent an apartment with no rodent roommates with a grocery store, a pub and a cafe within walking distance.

Basically, if someone moved to your city, didn't want to have a roommate, rented a one bedroom, got basic cable, high-speed internet, a blackberry for their home phone, a transit pass, bought groceries and had some money to go to a pub and the movies and take the odd vacation, how much would it cost?

For Ottawa, my estimate is:
$1000/mo rent
$300/mo food
$200/mo utilities
$120/mo transport (transit pass, bike repairs, the odd car rental)
$100 clothing
$300 enterainment
$450 fed/Provincial taxes/sales taxes
----------
$2570/mo or about $31,000 a year.

How does it compare with you cities?

[Top Of The Park]

Rents on a 1,000 sq ft apartment....between $550 and $790. Average about $675

Winter utlilties ............$100-$120 Summer- about half
Groceries......$250-$300 per person

wages....$20K to 30K avg about 25K

[ginsan2]

My god, I don't even want to know.

[FREKI]

Originally Posted by ikerrin

Basically, if someone moved to your city, didn't want to have a roommate, rented a one bedroom, got basic cable, high-speed internet, a blackberry for their home phone, a transit pass, bought groceries and had some money to go to a pub and the movies and take the odd vacation, how much would it cost?

For Copenhagen some 130.000 DKK should do it..

US: $22.500
Can: $28.600

But if you want to live close to the inner city or a university the price will rise drasticly the closer you come.. and it depends on where the travel destination would be..

Copenhagen isn't really that expensive as many think ( and it's not even posible to make make under $35k with a full time job here )

[tayser]

I currently budget:

Rent: $1192pcm
"Living" budget (Food/entertainment/etc): $1000pcm
$250pcm misc bills (priv health insurance (not necessary, but I want it), gym, mobile bill (cap plans = the best), internet bill).
~$150 every quarter for Electricity and Water bills.
No transport costs other than I have to buy shoes more frequently than most people as I'm a 3km / 30 min walk to work.

$2500pcm will cover what I currently pay, but that's JUST to live - you need a fair bit more if you want to put money away for other things.

$35k AUD p/a (gross) would be the minimum to live in the inner city - any lower and you'll practically live on the poverty line.

AUD/USD: 0.6574
AUD/CAD: 0.8360

[R@ptor]

Rent (incl. water, electricity, internet): €1,000-1,200
Groceries: €300
Transport (monthly 2-star pass): €65
Entertainment, Clothing, etc: €350

= €1,715 / US-$ 2,230 per month

add insurance, savings, vacations, other things and pretty high taxes and you have to earn at least €50k ($65k) to live quite comfortable.

[Krases]

I really can't say. The only thing I know is that nice condo's and hotels in Vegas go for around 700$ for 1 or 2 people.

As my brother said, its amazing how an extra 100$ in rent can be the difference between living in a nice neighborhood and getting shot at.

[BTinSF]

San Francisco:

Rent (decent studio apartment); $1200

Food: $500 (unless you enjoy a steady diet of burritos and assuming frequent lunches and occasional dinners with friends at restaurants--it can probably be done for less and there's lots of cheap ethnic restaurants)

Transportation: $45 (Muni Fastpass)

Clothing: $100 (that's very subjective--I go many months without buying ANY clothing. Also, SF has lots of discount--Ross, Marshall's--and used clothing stores)

Utilities: Maybe $50 for electricity, $35 for cable TV, $20 for DSL, $45 for cell phone plan, water/sewer usually included in rent

Entertainment: Up to you--movies are $10.50, plenty of cheap dive bars and clubs without covers, good seats at the Opera $200 each (standing room $10), symphony around $35 - $75

Total: Approx (and leaving a little leeway) $2500/month; $30K a year.

[JordanL]

Originally Posted by BTinSF

San Francisco:

Rent (decent studio apartment); $1200

Food: $500 (unless you enjoy a steady diet of burritos and assuming frequent lunches and occasional dinners with friends at restaurants--it can probably be done for less and there's lots of cheap ethnic restaurants)

Transportation: $45 (Muni Fastpass)

Clothing: $100 (that's very subjective--I go many months without buying ANY clothing. Also, SF has lots of discount--Ross, Marshall's--and used clothing stores)

Utilities: Maybe $50 for electricity, $35 for cable TV, $20 for DSL, $45 for cell phone plan, water/sewer usually included in rent

Entertainment: Up to you--movies are $10.50, plenty of cheap dive bars and clubs without covers, good seats at the Opera $200 each (standing room $10), symphony around $35 - $75

Total: Approx (and leaving a little leeway) $2500/month; $30K a year.

$50 electric bill? What in the world?

Do you like have a single bulb and a radio?

[VivaLFuego]

Originally Posted by JordanL

$50 electric bill? What in the world?

Do you like have a single bulb and a radio?

My electric bills are about $25-35/month, except when I run the air conditioner from about May-September and pay around $60-70/month. 800sq ft, my computer is always on, plus all the usual appliances. And... I use incandescent bulbs, too.

Heat, on the other hand...

[miketoronto]

I would say atleast $50,000 a year. More would be better.

[JordanL]

Originally Posted by VivaLFuego

My electric bills are about $25-35/month, except when I run the air conditioner from about May-September and pay around $60-70/month. 800sq ft, my computer is always on, plus all the usual appliances. And... I use incandescent bulbs, too.

Heat, on the other hand...

I guess I'm used to living in a multi-person household... I've never seen an electric bill below $120, and Oregon is in the lower third as far as cost of electricity...

[niwell]

Originally Posted by miketoronto

I would say atleast $50,000 a year. More would be better.

No.

I live comfortably in central Toronto for less than $2000 a month. For $2500-$3000 I could live much better.

Rent on a 3 bedroom house: $1800 a month (split between 3 people, so $600 each). Bills are an extra $100 or so a month.

Metropass: $97 (City/University discount, normal price $109)

Food: $500 or so, including going out to eat fairly often

Entertainment: $400 and thereabouts. I don't go out too often anymore, and when I do there are plenty of cheap bars in Toronto if you know where to find them.

All other expenses are paying interest on lines of credit/loans. When I make $50,000 I plan to live at roughly the same level and pay all of these off ASAP.

[Strange Meat]

I don't even need $20,000.

[volguus zildrohar]

To live that way in any part of this city with those amenities you'd have to pull at least $30k-$35k a year.

[initiald]

In Charlotte it all depends on where you live. In urban, walkable hoods along the light rail line, 2 bedroom (1 br hard to find) start at between 1,000 and 1,500 a month. Around university area 1 br start around 650 to 700. I found a steal of a 1 bedroom in an area along a bus line not too far from downtown (yet relatively safe) for 500 a month. Many of the nicer apartment complexes include highspeed internet, some include cable, and most include water.

Water - $12
Electricity - $50 to $75
TV/highspeed internet - $100
Monthly bus/rail pass is $60, but monthly parking downtown starts around $80 and goes way, way up from there.

I'd say $20,000 should be enough to make it on your own. A couple can make it on $35,000 easily with money for dining out, movies, concerts, etc.

[BTinSF]

Originally Posted by JordanL

$50 electric bill? What in the world?

Do you like have a single bulb and a radio?

No. I have the full complement of American appliances--all electric kitchen including dishwasher and microwave, 2 flat screen TVs with DVRs and cable, two computers (laptop and desktop) etc. I do use compact flourescent bulbs in nearly every outlet and never need to turn on heat (plus don't have A/C--any temp above 70 degrees F is considered an unendurable heat wave in SF). As with most apartments, my hot water comes from a boiler in the basement so that's covered in my condo fee (it would be included in rent in a rental unit).

I have a 2 bedroom, 2 bath condo on two levels. But your disbelief prompted me to go back and look at my electric bills for the months last year when I was there. I got back the last week in April, left for Tucson the first week in October:

May (paid in June): $52.58

June (paid in July): $46.79

July (paid in August): $42.96

August (paid in September): $49.79

September (paid in October): $39.72

So it seems the electric bill for a studio might well be more like $35 or $40.

[mhays]

My electric bills were about $5 in the summer in my old place with no air conditioning. That's Seattle's cheap hydro rates, and probably because a public agency runs our power. Not sure about my new place, because this building hasn't reached its sales plateau yet, which means they're not charging power (or dues) yet.

[SpongeG]

Vancouver:

Rent: 1 bdrm $1200
Food: $300+
Utilities: $50 (hydro - i don't pay it its included for me but I am guessing thats about average for a typical apartment)
Cable: $100 Range
Telephone: no idea i only have a cell
Cell: $30 & up
BC Medical: $54/month at the most - varies according to your income
Bus Pass: 1 zone = $73 2 zone = $99 3 zone = $136
Entertainment: $300 or so ?? it depends what you do
Car insurance: $1100/annually seems to be what most pay - they is cheaper and more depends
Parking: $50+ per month - most rentals charge extra plus if you drive you have to pay depending what is available
Other stuff: well it all depends on what you want - clothes, music, DVD's whatever

[The Chemist]

Shanghai:

My budget
Apartment: 2700RMB (could find one for less)
Transportation: ~250RMB
Food: ~1000RMB
Utilities: 450RMB (Electricity, Gas, Water, Internet, Cable)
Cell Phone: ~100RMB
Entertainment: ~1000RMB (would be a lot more if you like going to clubs, etc)
Total: 5600RMB (~US$800)