A family of four needs to make more than $275,000 to live comfortably in some of the most expensive U.S. cities, a recent SmartAsset analysis reveals.
“Comfortable” is defined as the income needed to cover a 50/30/20 budget for a family of two adults and two kids. This budget assumes that 50% of the monthly income can pay for necessities like housing and utility costs, 30% can cover discretionary spending and 20% can be set aside for savings or investments.
SmartAsset extrapolated the income needed for a 50/30/20 budget based on the cost of necessities, using data from the MIT Living Wage Calculator.
Here’s a look how much income a family of four needs to live comfortably in the 20 most expensive U.S. cities:
- San Francisco: $339,123
- San Jose, California: $334,547
- Boston: $319,738
- Arlington, Virginia: $318,573
- New York City: $318,406
- Oakland, California: $316,243
- Urban Honolulu, Hawaii: $299,520
- Irvine, California: $291,450
- Santa Ana, California: $291,450
- Portland, Oregon: $289,786
- San Diego: $289,453
- Chula Vista, California: $289,453
- Newark, New Jersey: $285,043
- Jersey City, New Jersey: $285,043
- Seattle: $283,712
- Aurora, Colorado: $280,467
- Long Beach, California: $280,218
- Anaheim, California: $280,218
- Los Angeles: $276,557
- Washington, D.C.: $275,642
San Francisco is the most expensive overall, with an income of $339,123 needed for a family of four. That’s followed by other cities known for having notoriously expensive housing costs, including Boston, New York City, Honolulu and Los Angeles.
In California, homes are about twice as expensive as the typical U.S. home, according to the Legislative Analyst’s Office, a nonpartisan government agency in that state. The state also has the fourth-highest cost of living in the U.S., based on 2023 Council for Community & Economic Research survey data.
Out of all 99 cities SmartAsset examined, a family of four would need a median of $226,886 to live comfortably. In Houston, the income needed drops to $175,219 — the lowest of all cities examined. But that’s still higher than the median family income in the U.S. of $92,750, according to the most recent U.S. Census bureau data available.
While employers in these high-cost cities tend to offer higher-than-average salaries as a way to attract and retain talent, housing costs can make it difficult to maintain a 50/30/20 budget.
And in large cities, housing costs often exceed 30% of a household income, leaving little room for other necessities like utilities, food and transportation. To make ends meet, families might skip out on homeownership, owning a vehicle or discretionary purchases.
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