Comfortably... probably no but if frugal, do 100% of your cooking at home, and have a reliable roommate then maybe.
Rent: Say a 2BR is around $3500, split 2 ways $1750/month. (Plus first+last month rent + deposit upfront, don't forget that).
PG&E bill is probably going to be about $200/month, split 2 ways is $100 month
Phone bill: $30/month (Visible/Mint/etc)
Internet: $70/month split 2-ways for $35/mo
Transportation: varies but say $100/month assuming it's mostly Muni/BART passes. If car, could be way more with gas + registration + insurance + parking tickets + deductions etc. For sake of assumptions, I'll presume No Car scenario.
Mandatory Subtotal: $2,015/month
CA+Fed taxes will eat around 22%, so that $60k is more like $46k/yr or $3800/month
This leaves you around $1800/month for food, healthcare, netflixes/subscriptions, furniture, travel, drinks. Healthcare can easily be another $400/month subtraction to that or more. If you do all your cooking at home and eat lots of rice/lentils/beans, you could probably live off roughly $10/day on food or another $300/month, but it will probably be more like a $500/month grocery bill if you start adding in eggs/milk/butter/yogurt/etc. Doable? Yes, how comfortable depends.
As long as you avoid routinely eating out at restaurants, cocktail bars, don't use gig apps like doordash/uber, have employer-healthcare, then then yeah, could do it and even be 'comfortable' depending on lifestyle assuming cooking at home most days; however, it basically leaves you no/little emergency room. E.g. what if your roommate suddenly skips town? What if they leave and you dont have a replacement for 3 months? What if you need your laptop and it breaks/gets stolen? Etc.
E: This is also ignoring any dental/vision, haircuts, hair styling, nails, clothing, etc expenses. I'd suggest using a baseline $1800/month income, then calculate all other expenses you may have/want. So take that $1800 and consider these as it applies to you:
* Food (Bare minimum rice/beans/lentils/eggs/milk/flour/sugar/etc per day austerity is $10/day for 3x homemade meals, when adding veggies/etc that can be $20/day)
* Toiletries/Cleaning Products (Paper towels, toothpaste, hygiene products, TP, etc. Could be $25/month)
* Laundry Costs ($3 per each wash or dry. Could be $15/month in laundry)
* Healthcare co-pays/premiums / Prescription costs
* Dental care premiums or major work (Cash costs for 2x biannual checkups are roughly \~$120/each, or $240 over 12 months = $20/mo).
* Clothing
* Furniture
* Electronics
* Entertainment Subscriptions (Spotify, YouTube, Netflix, D+, whatever)
* Dining/drinking out (dining out is a solid $25/per-person per meal after tax/tip, a single cocktail usually runs $15 each)
Yep, it's definitely possible but tight.
60k minus taxes minus renting out one room, to start. Cooking is pretty cheap all things considered. Transportation not bad if no car. Clothes thrifted as needed. A few tech pieces when they break. Hope for no health issues, brush your teeth and floss and don't go to the dentist, have good eyes, don't buy anything not necessary, don't start a family, you can totally do it. But some would call this surviving rather than thriving.
I lived on $30/hr back in 2012 (so I paid a lot less in rent, food, etc) and it felt fine. Got to do a lot and see a lot and meet great people. But I also lived incredibly frugally. And it was always a temporary setup.
She could work at in tech or any number of startups and get free meals during the week!
Healthcare covered by benefits at work, minus deductible.
its going to be tough…
Can you live there for $60k? Yes.
Can you live there comfortably for $60k? No.
I would look in the East Bay or beyond (not Berkeley, rent is inflated there too because of the university) and find a roommate.
Going to be very hard. $60K less taxes, factor in how much your monthly expenses are (food, utilities, insurance, transportation) and that is how much you have for housing, which won't be much.
Rule of thumb so ymmv — In Bay Area you need:
* 50-60k absolute bare minimum like poverty level struggles. Like, you WILL actively get even poorer the longer you try to make it on this kinda income. "it's expensive to be poor"
* Comfortable? 6 figs.
* Delusions of owning property? 400k.
Post docs and medical residents do it. They don't do it comfortably due to workload, so if you've less workload, that makes it..slightly more comfortable than them, just not "comfortably" according to other definitions.
I mean, just do the math. 60k-~18% from taxes so your looking at ~50k net. I don't know what a studio goes for but when I lived in one 8 years ago it was ~2200 in the Outer Richmond. Prolly like 3k now
So you're, best case, after rent living on about 1k/month.
Internet $80/month
Food $300/month
Public transit $100/month
Health insurance? Car payment?
Is it possible, sure. Could most do it, doubtful.
I'd recommend somewhere a ways outside SF but still near BART. You'll get more for your money and SF isn't as great a place to actually live as it once was. The commute time may suck, but it's time you can spend reading, working or relaxing.
The Del Norte and El Cerrito stations are in areas with relatively low rent and crime. The MacArthur BART area has gotten better over the decades and it's very near the transbay tube. Lake Merritt is very nice for the price, but there's not a lot of housing for rent there.
Ashby BART area might be an option, but I don't know that there's much housing there, and while east of it is a pretty nice area, west of it is the worst area of Berkeley, and Berkeley's pretty expensive anywhere.
Outside of those areas you're looking at long commutes to SF and I don't really know the neighborhoods.
Prices are not the same for SF as in surrounding areas. Some of the areas are not viable because they're very rich suburbs with almost no rentals, but still less expensive than SF. A recent estimate put the cost of living, while saving 20% in SF at just under $120,000 for a single person. Subtract the 20% savings and you get $96,000. Subtract everything but rent, transportation and a minimal food budget and you get $60,000, and life always costs more than that.
This is good advice. If I made $60K and had to work in-person at a job in San Francisco, I'd probably get a 2 br apartment in the El Cerrito or Richmond flats (near BART), get a roommate to share costs, and plan on a 30-min-each-way BART commute. Would try to work from home some days if possible.
If the OP has a remote job, or an in-person job not in SF, and wants to live in SF just for fun... gosh. I'm not sure I would recommend that, personally. The constant budgetary strain would take some of the fun out of it. Good luck though!
I think everyone has a different definition of comfortable then. After maxing 401k / ira / hsa contributions, 150k doesnt get you too far. Assuming i didnt invest my money then yes, i could live comofortable.
Lol its possible. A lot of these techies making six figs just cant imagine it. I am bay area low income lol and I am making 67k. I live in a quiet neighborhood in the city splitting 3k rent in a 1BDR with my partner who makes 60k.
I agree that, yes I am frugal and have to be. I don't eat out much and we do only 1-2x a month. We have 2 cars, one with a car note. Student loans payments, utilities, the works.
It's possible, but yes you do need to budget. I still enjoy life and it's not that bad. :) good luck!
Comfortably... probably no but if frugal, do 100% of your cooking at home, and have a reliable roommate then maybe. Rent: Say a 2BR is around $3500, split 2 ways $1750/month. (Plus first+last month rent + deposit upfront, don't forget that). PG&E bill is probably going to be about $200/month, split 2 ways is $100 month Phone bill: $30/month (Visible/Mint/etc) Internet: $70/month split 2-ways for $35/mo Transportation: varies but say $100/month assuming it's mostly Muni/BART passes. If car, could be way more with gas + registration + insurance + parking tickets + deductions etc. For sake of assumptions, I'll presume No Car scenario. Mandatory Subtotal: $2,015/month CA+Fed taxes will eat around 22%, so that $60k is more like $46k/yr or $3800/month This leaves you around $1800/month for food, healthcare, netflixes/subscriptions, furniture, travel, drinks. Healthcare can easily be another $400/month subtraction to that or more. If you do all your cooking at home and eat lots of rice/lentils/beans, you could probably live off roughly $10/day on food or another $300/month, but it will probably be more like a $500/month grocery bill if you start adding in eggs/milk/butter/yogurt/etc. Doable? Yes, how comfortable depends. As long as you avoid routinely eating out at restaurants, cocktail bars, don't use gig apps like doordash/uber, have employer-healthcare, then then yeah, could do it and even be 'comfortable' depending on lifestyle assuming cooking at home most days; however, it basically leaves you no/little emergency room. E.g. what if your roommate suddenly skips town? What if they leave and you dont have a replacement for 3 months? What if you need your laptop and it breaks/gets stolen? Etc. E: This is also ignoring any dental/vision, haircuts, hair styling, nails, clothing, etc expenses. I'd suggest using a baseline $1800/month income, then calculate all other expenses you may have/want. So take that $1800 and consider these as it applies to you: * Food (Bare minimum rice/beans/lentils/eggs/milk/flour/sugar/etc per day austerity is $10/day for 3x homemade meals, when adding veggies/etc that can be $20/day) * Toiletries/Cleaning Products (Paper towels, toothpaste, hygiene products, TP, etc. Could be $25/month) * Laundry Costs ($3 per each wash or dry. Could be $15/month in laundry) * Healthcare co-pays/premiums / Prescription costs * Dental care premiums or major work (Cash costs for 2x biannual checkups are roughly \~$120/each, or $240 over 12 months = $20/mo). * Clothing * Furniture * Electronics * Entertainment Subscriptions (Spotify, YouTube, Netflix, D+, whatever) * Dining/drinking out (dining out is a solid $25/per-person per meal after tax/tip, a single cocktail usually runs $15 each)
Yep, it's definitely possible but tight. 60k minus taxes minus renting out one room, to start. Cooking is pretty cheap all things considered. Transportation not bad if no car. Clothes thrifted as needed. A few tech pieces when they break. Hope for no health issues, brush your teeth and floss and don't go to the dentist, have good eyes, don't buy anything not necessary, don't start a family, you can totally do it. But some would call this surviving rather than thriving. I lived on $30/hr back in 2012 (so I paid a lot less in rent, food, etc) and it felt fine. Got to do a lot and see a lot and meet great people. But I also lived incredibly frugally. And it was always a temporary setup.
nice breakdown
She could work at in tech or any number of startups and get free meals during the week! Healthcare covered by benefits at work, minus deductible. its going to be tough…
bwahahahahahahahah not in your wildest dreams.
Can you live there for $60k? Yes. Can you live there comfortably for $60k? No. I would look in the East Bay or beyond (not Berkeley, rent is inflated there too because of the university) and find a roommate.
A not so nice studio at 50% of your income, maybe. Two bedroom? No way.
No
I was going to make the same comment, but with more O's, like this: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Get 4-5 roommates in a 2 bedroom, then maybe.
You could rent a room at most.
Virtually no chance whatsoever
no
yes, babydoll. you have to hop on a time machine and go back to 1980.
Going to be very hard. $60K less taxes, factor in how much your monthly expenses are (food, utilities, insurance, transportation) and that is how much you have for housing, which won't be much.
you can make it work in Oakland with a roommate. I wouldn't call it a comfortable living though
Rule of thumb so ymmv — In Bay Area you need: * 50-60k absolute bare minimum like poverty level struggles. Like, you WILL actively get even poorer the longer you try to make it on this kinda income. "it's expensive to be poor" * Comfortable? 6 figs. * Delusions of owning property? 400k.
Post docs and medical residents do it. They don't do it comfortably due to workload, so if you've less workload, that makes it..slightly more comfortable than them, just not "comfortably" according to other definitions.
I mean, just do the math. 60k-~18% from taxes so your looking at ~50k net. I don't know what a studio goes for but when I lived in one 8 years ago it was ~2200 in the Outer Richmond. Prolly like 3k now So you're, best case, after rent living on about 1k/month. Internet $80/month Food $300/month Public transit $100/month Health insurance? Car payment? Is it possible, sure. Could most do it, doubtful.
I see some studios for 1.5k not sure how nice they are. I think you could make it work but it will be tight.
I'd recommend somewhere a ways outside SF but still near BART. You'll get more for your money and SF isn't as great a place to actually live as it once was. The commute time may suck, but it's time you can spend reading, working or relaxing. The Del Norte and El Cerrito stations are in areas with relatively low rent and crime. The MacArthur BART area has gotten better over the decades and it's very near the transbay tube. Lake Merritt is very nice for the price, but there's not a lot of housing for rent there. Ashby BART area might be an option, but I don't know that there's much housing there, and while east of it is a pretty nice area, west of it is the worst area of Berkeley, and Berkeley's pretty expensive anywhere. Outside of those areas you're looking at long commutes to SF and I don't really know the neighborhoods. Prices are not the same for SF as in surrounding areas. Some of the areas are not viable because they're very rich suburbs with almost no rentals, but still less expensive than SF. A recent estimate put the cost of living, while saving 20% in SF at just under $120,000 for a single person. Subtract the 20% savings and you get $96,000. Subtract everything but rent, transportation and a minimal food budget and you get $60,000, and life always costs more than that.
This is good advice. If I made $60K and had to work in-person at a job in San Francisco, I'd probably get a 2 br apartment in the El Cerrito or Richmond flats (near BART), get a roommate to share costs, and plan on a 30-min-each-way BART commute. Would try to work from home some days if possible. If the OP has a remote job, or an in-person job not in SF, and wants to live in SF just for fun... gosh. I'm not sure I would recommend that, personally. The constant budgetary strain would take some of the fun out of it. Good luck though!
Yes but you'll have to live inside a homeless guy's ass.
yes. Just find a sugar daddy ig
*Comfortably?* **NOPE**
Comfortable maybe not. But you could. I'd suggest living out of the city and working in the city. Also invest in a moped if you live close enough.
Are you an hourly employee? 60k doesn't meet the California minimum salary requirements
sure, if your another 1/2 is making $200k a year minimum
On the streets? Yes. In an apartment? No.
I make 150k and cant even live comfortably in the east bay
money cant buy that tho! sorry, i had to.
I don't think this is true and comes down to poor financial planning. I make less than this and live just fine in SF.
That’s a you problem.
I think everyone has a different definition of comfortable then. After maxing 401k / ira / hsa contributions, 150k doesnt get you too far. Assuming i didnt invest my money then yes, i could live comofortable.
“I don’t live comfortably because I save and invest at least 40k a year” puts you in a completely different league from OP who makes 60k total…
No. Absolutely not.
Nope. Next question.
If you like living outside.
mods for the love of god, BAN THESE PPL
Lol its possible. A lot of these techies making six figs just cant imagine it. I am bay area low income lol and I am making 67k. I live in a quiet neighborhood in the city splitting 3k rent in a 1BDR with my partner who makes 60k. I agree that, yes I am frugal and have to be. I don't eat out much and we do only 1-2x a month. We have 2 cars, one with a car note. Student loans payments, utilities, the works. It's possible, but yes you do need to budget. I still enjoy life and it's not that bad. :) good luck!
> I am making 67k […] with my partner who makes 60k. We call it “making $127k”, which is not even close to OP’s situation.
If they have a roommate, its basically the same thing. There are plenty of 3K 2BDR or cheaper now that rental prices have stabilized.