<p>I think that there are lots of places where $100,000 a year goes quite far. But average incomes in those areas tends to be lower too unless the job is for work that produces goods or services for other areas.</p>
<p>I read about someone that bought a house for $1 in Detroit a while ago. If housing costs are taken out of the equation and transportation costs can be chopped (as in an area where you can walk or bike to work), then that leaves much more money for consumption or savings.</p>
<p>I know many families who are making $300,000+ per year who don't consider themselves affluent and whose kids go to local state universities because of financial concerns.</p>
<p>I think the tuition levels are a racket and that it's difficult for most families. I concur with idad. Even families making very high salaries are looking at the state universities. After taxes, housing, gas and retirement savings, who feels comfortable plopping down $50k a year? Especially for some of the courses students are "required" to take during freshman/sophomore years. I know I paid a pretty penny for my daughter's required PE class.</p>
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You can be making a lot of money, much more than $100K and still not be living comfortably if you simply spend more than you make.
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<p>Well, I can agree with that! It's clear to me, though, that almost anyone (absent some kind of medical emergency) can live comfortably on 100k, if they realize they have to. We life in North Jersey (you know, where CC kids continually say you can't live on less than 200K) and somehow make do very, very comfortably on about 100k. I know I have a higher income than most of my neighbors, so it would be beyond unseemly to complain about it.</p>
<p>But then, most of these "we're only middle income" families, here on CC, would shoot themselves before they lived on our neighborhood, or our house. (and I guess sending your kid to a school which requires dry-cleaned shirts and coats is a choice, too. We took our chances on the random public.)</p>
<p>Garland, a lot of public schools/programs here require dress shirts and jackets. It's not only private schools that do so. we could live on about $100k and lived on much, much less for many years, but I wouldn't want to. After more than 20 years of marriage, we finally own a home of our own and I don't want to give that up. My choice. We are also finally able to allow our kids to take lessons and occasionally go out to eat. We didn't do that, either, for the first 20 years of our marriage, but we now work second jobs/overtime in order to be able to do so and I'm not sorry. Some of those luxuries are what make the day-to-day grind of being working parents tolerable.</p>
<p>"But then, most of these "we're only middle income" families, here on CC, would shoot themselves before they lived on our neighborhood, or our house. (and I guess sending your kid to a school which requires dry-cleaned shirts and coats is a choice, too. We took our chances on the random public.)"</p>
<p>Why don't you describe your house and neighborhood. You might be surprised at what people making $100K live in. </p>
<p>I'm not familiar with dry-cleaned shirts that you wear daily unless they're silk. I thought that laundered shirts were just washed like other clothes and then pressed, either by hand or by a machine. One thing about the machines: they're pretty tough on buttons.</p>
<p>^ And suits only need to be dry-cleaned once or twice a month if you're frugal and keep them clean. Really, you don't need to be dry-cleaning anything after just one wear unless it's stained.</p>
<p>We also need to figure health insurance into the income equation, and the co-pays, deductables and prescription costs. This can amount to quite a bit for some families.</p>
<p>"And suits only need to be dry-cleaned once or twice a month if you're frugal and keep them clean. Really, you don't need to be dry-cleaning anything after just one wear unless it's stained."</p>
<p>We spent a few days in New York City and returned back to our vehicle in Stamford, CT yesterday. We were pretty amazed to see all of the men and women dressed in suits walking around in high-80s, high sun and high humidity weather. We took the commuter train from Grand Central Station to Stamford. The air conditioning didn't really work, lots of people were standing and it was pretty crowded. I was in a t-shirt and found it uncomfortable.</p>
<p>I had a look at a dry-cleaning price page and they charged $7.50 for a two-piece suit. And $1.35 for shirts. So if you did a suit per day with shirts, you'd be spending $44.25 for one person per week or $2,301 per year for one person. So the $10 per week for two people obviously assumes much less than cleaning after one wear.</p>
<p>But why would you be dry-cleaning shirts in the first place? It's not that hard to learn to iron, and I don't know of any job that requires "dry clean ONLY" shirts. If it just says "dry clean," you can hand wash.</p>
<p>Dry-cleaning a suit twice a month would come to $15 a month, which is less than $40. The little things do add up.</p>
<p>There may be variability in dry cleaning but not so much in local areas for car insurance, housing prices, real estate taxes, gasoline, highway tolls...I have two siblings that live in the Bay Area. They are professionals and make good money. They live "comfortably" but certainly not in the same size house as anyone in other housing markets. </p>
<p>I have a friend who lives near South Bend Indiana. Amazing the huge house they were able to buy for such a low price....unbelievable. </p>
<p>$100k can mean very different lifestyles in different areas of the country.</p>
<p>I see we found another way to discuss about $$ in this forum. </p>
<p>When we were at the application stage for DD, we were going by the numbers on paper. Yes, we could do this or that. Once the FA packages came in and we saw how much $$ loan most of the schools use to meet "100% of the need", we knew these schools were out of our financial ability. </p>
<p>I am glad that many have realized that many small expenses do add up. A near 100K income today is by not way rich. It is actually difficult to live by in certain areas. I just can't believe how some of these people jumped on me when I said that the other day. </p>
<p>BTW, I have been in this country about 23 years now. I really don't think I have spent $1000 in all these 23 years for clothes and shoes. About 95% of my clothes are from yard sales at $0.25 to $2 a piece.</p>
<p>"But why would you be dry-cleaning shirts in the first place? It's not that hard to learn to iron, and I don't know of any job that requires "dry clean ONLY" shirts. If it just says "dry clean," you can hand wash."</p>
<p>The person that talked about dry-cleaning shirts was mistaken. Dry-cleaning shirts runs about $4.50 per. Regular cleaning runs a buck and a little change.</p>
<p>"Dry-cleaning a suit twice a month would come to $15 a month, which is less than $40. The little things do add up."</p>
<p>Have you ever had a job where you had to wear a suit and tie every day? Are we talking about actual experience or hypothetical?</p>
<p>It is crazy to spend more on cleaning clothes than buying them, isn't it. But that is the situation when you work in Manhattan at a job that requires suit and tie, and to present a sharp image. Just as police or military personnel or any uniformed professions is required to have high standards in dress as part of the job, so it is with certain "white collar" professions. So, H's clothing is the bulk of what we spend on clothes. Yes, we spend more than we do for the rest of us together on his clothes. I am not a clothes horse and spend little on my stuff, and my boys are not into special clothing either. But for H, it is essential. After all that is our only source of income.</p>
<p>In our case, private school is purely choice. We live in a good school district and chose to send our kids to private school, and are paying dearly financially for this choice. We know this. Education and quality of life while pursuing education was an important thing for us and it did not start with college, but much earlier. Many kids in the catholic schools where my boys go, however, are there because their public schools are woefully inadequate and even dangerous. We are talking about NYC schools, and though there are good schools in NYC, there are also many that are substandard. There are many reasons for putting a kid in a private school; some of them are pretty important. In our case, it was purely a choice, as I think these younger two would have done just fine in our public school, but sometimes it becomes a priority to place ones children elsewhere. Just as some colleges are not good fits for folks, some schools do not fit kids well, and when that happens, it often behooves a family to make the financial sacrifice to either move to another public school area or transfer kid to a private school. Sometimes, it is more expensive and a lot more disruptive on other fronts to move. </p>
<p>I agree that $100K a year is a good income in this country. But it is not what I would categorize as wealthy in some areas. For kids right out of school, it would be a veritable fortune. For a family of 4/5 with grandparents starting to need some assistance, kids heading to college, just average medical, dental, optical needs, and parents who are well into middle age, $100K can be tough to stretch to adequately address all that arises in terms of safe housing, safe cars, good schools, saving for pensions, college, emergency fund. Especially if such a family does not have community, friends, family members that help out with things. That can make all of the difference. Also having bought a house a while ago could make a difference too. I know when we arrived here in NY, we came at a time when the market was peaking. To replace our house in the midwest would have meant 3x the cost without the land acreage. Yet there are folks in homes they had bought years ago where the market value sky rocketed past salary scale so they now were in a house they could not afford to buy at current income and cost. So there are many factors that one salary figure go a lot farther for one family than for another.</p>
<p>We have my husband's uniforms washed at the laundry because I don't want them in my machines. he's a NYC garbageman and the things he encounters would blow your mind. Yes this is a luxury and if it makes me wealthy or out of touch, so be it.</p>
<p>I spend about $10 to dry clean a suit. H generally has a suit in the cleaners each week and a blazer every other week. More if a stain or strain appears on the suit. So I generally pay about $50 per month just for his suits. Now throw in the coats and other winter wear for the rest of us including grandmothers and we are probably close to the $1000 level. That is with very little that we all have for dry cleaning. If I worked at my profession, I would likely have dry cleaning as well which would increase the cost. So, I don't think $1000 is unreasonable for such families.</p>
<p>"I don't care where you live, if you earn over $100,000 you're living comfortably. I think a lot of people would be surprised how little income you could survive on. I can't help but wonder what some kids, on their $100k+ family incomes, are thinking when they complain about how tight their finances are paying for their four-bedroom home with a pool and two cars, and how unfair it is that they don't get their own car to drive or had to settle for lesser-brand clothes."</p>
<p>I think this is a bit broad and presumptuous, and brings to mind the old Monty Python "Four Yorkshiremen" skit that can still be found on Y**tube.</p>
<p>Each family is different, and there are many simple factors that can affect the affluence/comfort level of $100K -- the cost of living in your home area, the number of children you have (we know families with 6, 7 and 8 kids), cost or lack of medical insurance (especially for those who are self-employed), and caregiving for family members or senior parents with special needs.</p>
<p>Ispf72, I do believe that one can live in the US on $100K comfortably. Not necessarily in terms of US luxury, however. Also, depending on past income levels, it is not going to cover private college tuition for a kid, especially if there is another kid or two still at home or in college. It is not going to cover the after tax $52K+ cost of many private colleges. The math is right there.</p>
<p>The issue here is that different people have different lifestyles and different definitions of "comfortable." We spend $200 a month on groceries to feed a family of four without feeling deprived at all. For another family that depends on different staples (or have voracious eaters), that could be totally unfeasible.</p>
<p>Zoosermom--really? I've heard of public schools with polo shirts and khakis, but never with dress shirts and jackets. Seems it would be fairly hard on the typical city kid (whose income is probably a fraction of 100K).</p>
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Why don't you describe your house and neighborhood. You might be surprised at what people making $100K live in.
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<p>Sure. Century old houses, small houses, many (ours!) in bad condition. tiny yards, and rooms (I always get a chuckle when people talk about how small dorm rooms are. My S's seemed like a palace to him--his room at home is 6 by 7 with no closet.) Within a block, we're neighbors to two plumbing places, a wrecking yard, and, I think, a frozen chicken factory. Another plumber three more blocks away. (The Garden State Parkway is a block away, too.)</p>
<p>Lots of houses in our neighborhood are rentals, many are two-families. Most of our neighbors are blue collar; a few live on disability or SS. We're on the edge of a very high crime city, and my colleagues at the college I work at frequently ask why I send my kids to the local HS (average SAT M/V is about 900).</p>
<p>The majority of my town would feel like they won the lottery on 100k, So how could it be that this amount is barely enough to live on, in a socalled high-priced part of the country? Yes, there are those with medical issues (a travesty what effect that has in a rich country) but that's not most. Our income puts us smack in the comfort zone--maybe knowing that so many people in the area live on so much less just gives me a little different perspective. It just makes sense to appreciate what I have, not bemoan what I don't. (Yes, bemoaning is a Constitutional right, but when it crosses to--"but it's not fair I don't get what I want", I find it hard to understand). Having enough income for lessons, private schools, nice houses, etc, should be something to celebrate, not gripe about how unfairly one is viewed. JMO.</p>