What Salary Buys Happiness in Your City?

[RbSX]

Atleast $100k here minimum to live in the city.

 

[Svnla]

Question for ya'll.

How accurate is the cost of living index in that article in your opinion and experience? And how do they calculate it?..ie. NYC is expensive for sure, but how or why it was 218? Why not 353 or 297? Just wondering.

 

[tokie]

If by "happy" you mean the point where I wouldn't strive for a salary increase, I would say $200k would do it in Toronto.

Closest city (Buffalo) gives $70k.

 

[Fritzo]

Need $80K-$100K around here. That would allow you a nice house, 2 cars, a decent vacation every year, and good food, along with financial security and retirement.

 

[Kaido]

$96,750 says the chart for Hartford

That's the salary every TWO years, right?

 

[Pantlegz]

70k which isn't too far off my estimates. I'm getting closer and closer. Hopefully in a few years

 

[Demo24]

Question for ya'll.

How accurate is the cost of living index in that article in your opinion and experience? And how do they calculate it?..ie. NYC is expensive for sure, but how or why it was 218? Why not 353 or 297? Just wondering.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cost-of-living_index

 

[Blackjack200]

Question for ya'll.

How accurate is the cost of living index in that article in your opinion and experience? And how do they calculate it?..ie. NYC is expensive for sure, but how or why it was 218? Why not 353 or 297? Just wondering.

Should be pretty easy. Just see what a basket of goods/services costs. Housing will obviously be the biggest factor, and in NYC you can pay $1500 to share a shoe box with a couple other people. One thing that could throw it off is if they actually factor in the cost of owning and parking a car. Most people who live in the city don't own or drive cars... or if they do they just use a Zipcar every once in a while.

 

[uclaLabrat]

lol, New York is off the charts, even blows LA away.

Yeah, I just moved to NYC from LA like a week ago...I can't believe how much more expensive shit is here. Groceries are probably double what they are back home. Major benefit is not having to own a car.

 

[Blackjack200]

Complete and utter bullshit. I am well below every amount listed on this chart and I manage to rent in a decent area, pay for food and activities, travel a bit and save for retirement. I'm generally happy.

If and when I want to raise children, I'll need to make more, sure. But what would really make me happy is if I had more allotted holiday time every year.

If I had a slight salary bump (a few grand) and 2 more weeks of holidays, I could travel a bit more (on the cheap) and that would be a nice bonus.

I didn't read tfa, but typically these studies are looking at the point in which additional money ceases to provide additional happiness. You can be a happy person making $35k, but it is likely that if you made $70k and everything else in your life stayed the same, you'd be happier.

Conversely, you can be a miserable person making $1 million a year, and making another million won't do a thing for your happiness.

 

[Blackjack200]

Yeah, I just moved to NYC from LA like a week ago...I can't believe how much more expensive shit is here. Groceries are probably double what they are back home. Major benefit is not having to own a car.

How do you like it so far? I love NYC, but I've never been to LA so I can't compare.

 

[vshah]

$163,500

bahahahahahahah

doesn't help that i have a car in the city either

although in terms of happiness, It helps

 

[KentState]

I know when I was $20k below and $10k above the index, my life changed a lot. The biggest difference was not having to worry if you can maintain having a house, car and food. I was able to sleep easier, not contemplate every like thing I purchased, and so on.

 

[octopus41092]

San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara
$118,500

 

[Tweak155]

I know when I was $20k below and $10k above the index, my life changed a lot. The biggest difference was not having to worry if you can maintain having a house, car and food. I was able to sleep easier, not contemplate every like thing I purchased, and so on.

This. While I always calculate numbers out of habit, I'm not sitting there waiting for a next paycheck. I'm just like "oh hey I got paid today". Very nice comfort.

That being said, I'd like to be able to afford a vacation without having to worry about anything. I'm a ways away from that, still. I should probably get to saving more too now. When I got into the real job a few years ago, it was a terrible time to invest. Soon.... soon.

My current plan is to save enough cash money to buy a house straight up in 3 years. If I do it in 5 I still figure its a win.

 

[amdskip]

Says $72k.

Give me a roof over my head, food on the table, paid bills and I'll be pretty happy.

 

[soulcougher73]

$71,250 in KC

 

[arrfep]

I won't be happy until I figure out what the fvck is going on in the second sentence of the OP.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Question for ya'll.

How accurate is the cost of living index in that article in your opinion and experience? And how do they calculate it?..ie. NYC is expensive for sure, but how or why it was 218? Why not 353 or 297? Just wondering.

Ehh ... I'd say it's probably pretty accurate ...

Where I live now, the home prices are slightly above the median for the country, taxes are slightly higher, utilities are slightly lower.... so it works out. The price in the City of Chicago vs Wauconda is like 7%, and I think that's about right. Things like Gas, taxes, and cigarettes are a lot more expensive in the city, BUT, like 2/3 of the city is slums which are like less then $1000 to rent an apartment.... which makes up for it quite a bit...

 

[roguerower]

$69,750 here in San Antonio...I guess I'm almost happy

 

[thegimp03]

Apparently it's $118,500 here in the San Jose area and I'm kind of surprised they lumped San Francisco in with Oakland and Fremont areas as Fremont is WAY cheaper than San Francisco...

 

[zinfamous]

I'm probably not even halfway to happiness!

 

[Jumpem]

$73,500. I'd say it's about half of where it needs to be for a couple with young kids.

 

[Printer Bandit]

$9,000 / yr

 

[sjwaste]

103k here. Awesome.