The salary a single person needs to live comfortably in 25 major U.S. cities (2024)

FAQs

How much does a single person need to make to live comfortably in the US? ›

The national median for living comfortably alone is $89,461, which suggests that a 50/30/20 budget might not be practical for most single people.

If you make $75,000 a year, you're earning more than half of all workers in the U.S. And in fact, many people would probably consider the salary as good pay. After all, a $75,000 salary works out to around $6,250 per month, $1,442.31 per week, or $36.06 an hour.

How much does the average American make a year? According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor, the average U.S. annual salary in Q4 of 2023 was $59,384. This is up 5.4% from the same time period in 2022 when the average American was making $56,316 per year.

On average, an individual needs $96,500 for sustainable comfort in a major U.S. city.

The 50-30-20 rule recommends putting 50% of your money toward needs, 30% toward wants, and 20% toward savings. The savings category also includes money you will need to realize your future goals.

The income numbers are roughly 15% higher today. For example, if you make at least $116,000 at age 25, you are considered rich. If you make at least $173,000 at age 30, you re considered rich. At age 35, if you make at least $291,000 you are considered rich.

If you had an income of $200,000, that would put you in the top 12% of household incomes or the top 5% of individual incomes in 2022. Though I prefer household income over individual income, no matter how you cut it, $200k a year puts you on the higher end of the income spectrum.

What is 500 a week annually? Earning $500 in weekly wages is the equivalent of earning $26,000 a year. This calculation is based on the person working 52 weeks a year; the math is 500 x 52, which equals $26,000.

For Americans ages 25 to 34, the median salary is $1,040 per week or $54,080 per year. That's a big jump from the median salary for 20- to 24-year-olds. As a general rule, earnings tend to rise in your 20s and 30s as you start to climb up the ladder.

What income is middle class for a single person? ›

With New Jersey ranking as the top state to make the most money to be considered middle class, other states ranking in the top five requiring salaries exceeding $50,000 to be in this category include Maryland ($63,321) and Massachusetts ($62,986), Hawaii ($61,633) and California ($61,028).

Only 18% of individual Americans make more than $100,000 a year, according to 2023 data from careers website Zippia. About 34% of U.S. households earn more than $100,000 a year, according to Zippia.

An individual needs $96,500, on average, to live comfortably in a major U.S. city. That figure is even higher for families, who need to earn an average combined income of about $235,000 to support two adults and two children.

See how we rank budget-friendly states and examine how all 50 states stack up in terms of living expenses. The most affordable state is Utah, where residents spend the least percentage of their income on necessities (63.3%) and have the most annual income left over ($32,732).

We've identified 10 cities where the typical salary for a 135K job is above the national average. Topping the list is San Buenaventura, CA, with Santa Cruz, CA and Sunnyvale, CA close behind in the second and third positions.

Again, living expenses vary significantly by location, but we can use some average numbers. The average monthly living expenses for a single person in the USA are $3,189, which is $38,266 per year. The average cost for a family of four is $7,095 per month, which is $85,139 per year.

Highlights. Real median household income was $74,580 in 2022, a 2.3 percent decline from the 2021 estimate of $76,330 (Figure 1 and Table A-1).

Living cost in USA for international students can be calculated roughly based on the city you reside in. The estimated living cost for the US is around $10,000 to $18,000 per year, which averages around $1000 to $1500 per month.