A single person needs to earn more than $96,000 a year to live comfortably in many major US cities, calculations by SmartAsset found.
This jumps to nearly $140,000 for New York City, $125,000 for Boston, $120,000 for Seattle, and $111,000 for Los Angeles, per the fintech's research. The analysis was conducted using the MIT Living Wage Calculator.
Living "comfortably" means being able to allocate 50% of monthly income toward essentials like housing, groceries, and transportation; 30% to hobbies and entertainment; and 20% to repaying debts, saving, and investing, SmartAsset said.
Families also face a hefty price tag. Two adults with two children need to bring in $235,000 to live comfortably in half of the 99 cities included in the research.
The total is more than $300,000 for six cities, including San Francisco ($339,000), San Jose ($335,000), and New York City ($318,000).
Houston is the cheapest city on the list in both the single-person and family categories, where a $75,000 salary is required to live comfortably as the former, while $175,000 is needed for the latter.
Living costs have jumped since the pandemic with historic inflation in food, energy, and rent costs. Monthly payments on mortgages, credit cards, car loans, and other types have debt have soared, too. The Federal Reserve has hiked interest rates to curb the pace of price increases.
The high cost of city living is also a product of more entrenched issues, including a housing shortage and expensive healthcare, education, and childcare.
Individuals have faced another challenge in the form of a "singles tax," as they can't split their food, housing, and transportation expenses as easily as couples can.
