Ask HN: What Are The Costs of Living?

I don't want to go into details, but I recently got in an argument about whether or not someone could live off of $20,700 without going hungry. I believe that it is possible (heck, my family of 4 does that right now), but I'd like some stats to back me up.

What are the costs of living? If income is $20,700 a year, how much of it is left after taxes? How much would you have to spend on food every week? Rent (assuming an urban area like New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, etc.)? Other necessities?

So I guess the main question is, is $20,700 a year enough for one person?

I think the answer to this question could be beneficial to anyone looking to cut costs while starting a startup as well.

That's really interesting to hear. Was that was only the cost of rent or did it include things like toiletries, utilities, etc?

One commentator states the author lives in the east bay, which is very different than SF cost of living. That said, if you're just moving to SF now, rent has gone up significantly in the past two years. However that doesn't mean it's impossible

For the tax question:

If that's earned income (rather than from investment income, say) you'll pay federal payroll taxes of 7.65%, and, if you don't have anything but the standard deductions, federal income tax of a bit over $2500, so you'll have about $16,500 after federal taxes.

Then you'll pay somewhere between $0 and $1000 in state income tax, depending on your state. So a range of ~$15,500 to ~$16,500 post-tax.

That's probably enough to live on frugally, but it really depends on being able to find cheap housing, which will probably dominate the expenses. If you're somewhere like Pittsburgh, that'll be no problem; plenty of $500-600/mo apartments. If you're in NYC, it will take more searching, even in the outer boroughs.

Food costs, if you eat cheaply and cook, aren't a huge deal relative to rent. Health insurance might be a problem if you aren't young/healthy or employer-covered (individually purchased insurance, if you have any blemish on your health record or are older, gets expensive quickly). A yearly transit pass will be around $800-$1200/yr in most places, if you can get by without a car.

I lived on around 13k after taxes all through college, it isn't that hard. I still spent money on going out to eat, computers, etc.

Assuming you are single (otherwise, this whole exercise changes), then they biggest factor is room mates. 2 people sharing a 2 bedroom apartment (and utilities/food/etc) can easily live comfortably on the $15k-$17k after tax income each.

You can easily get MUCH cheaper by having 2-3 room mates.