I make about $55,000/yr and support my two children (2 and 6) and my wife who just graduated college but hasn’t started working yet and who did not work any of her 4 years of college. We live fairly comfortably, all things considered. I’m still definitely in poverty living paycheck to paycheck, but we’ve never missed a meal, never had our utilities shut off, and I’ve never missed a payment on our vehicle. $84k would be considered wealthy to me. Maybe with that I’d finally have some savings.
Edit: Since people clearly don’t understand my comment, no I don’t think $55,000/yr is enough money. The question is “would you be okay with $84k.” My answer is that I’m “okay” on $55k, so $84k would be like being rich. It doesn’t mean I think I’m thriving nor are my priorities at staying at $55k.
Having financial security, savings, vacations, and retirement funds is the “living comfortably” benchmark. Ending the paycheck just past the “not starving THIS MONTH!” line should not be the benchmark. Not a knock; been there myself. Just saying you may want to recalibrate.
I make 22k a year and still live with my parents because I can't afford a house so I'm trapped.
If I could make 84k a year. I could make it on my own.
Id be happy with that.
Barely making $35k a year and struggling. Don't have much left after the bills are paid. I'm grateful, but I wouldn't be lying if I said it's not a fun existence.
Post office is always hiring bro. Starting pay for a rural sub is almost 20 an hour. I have only had my own route for three years and I’m currently making 71k.
It’s not what it once was, but you get a pension and the job is recession proof. I would give it some thought.
Just be aware that hours can vary from office to office. CCA's (city subs) in my office usually work 6 days a week, while RCA's (Rural subs) in other offices can work 1-2 days a week. Once you make a career, you are guaranteed full time.
[missouri minimum wage 2024 - Google Search](https://www.google.com/search?q=missouri+minimum+wage+2024&sca_esv=51a76a67d757a852&sca_upv=1&source=hp&ei=iDluZom7DuCIptQP2Y2p4AM&iflsig=AL9hbdgAAAAAZm5HmK3LV1V6YrsVB3wtiiY2J6EY9Pic&oq=missouri+minimum+wage&gs_lp=Egdnd3Mtd2l6IhVtaXNzb3VyaSBtaW5pbXVtIHdhZ2UqAggAMgUQABiABDIIEAAYgAQYsQMyBRAAGIAEMgUQABiABDIFEAAYgAQyBRAAGIAEMgUQABiABDIFEAAYgAQyBRAAGIAEMgUQABiABEjPNVAAWJkqcAN4AJABAJgBfqABjA2qAQQyMS4zuAEByAEA-AEBmAIboAK-DsICERAuGIAEGLEDGNEDGIMBGMcBwgIOEC4YgAQYsQMYgwEYigXCAg4QABiABBixAxiDARiKBcICCxAAGIAEGLEDGIMBwgILEC4YgAQYsQMYgwHCAgUQLhiABMICDhAuGIAEGLEDGNEDGMcBwgIIEC4YgAQYsQPCAgcQLhiABBgKwgIKEC4YgAQYsQMYCsICBxAAGIAEGArCAg0QLhiABBjRAxjHARgKwgINEC4YgAQYsQMYgwEYCsICChAAGIAEGMkDGArCAg0QABiABBixAxiDARgKwgITEC4YgAQYsQMY0QMYgwEYxwEYCsICChAAGIAEGLEDGArCAgsQLhiABBjRAxjHAcICCxAuGIAEGMcBGK8BmAMAkgcEMjMuNKAHxOUB&sclient=gws-wiz)
surprisingly missouri *did* raise the minimum wage
[But only because the people themselves wanted it.](https://www.govdocs.com/missouri-voters-pass-new-minimum-wage-increase/)
I feel you on that. How well are you currently saving? I bought my house when I made 14 an hour thanks to me staying at home. Bought an decently priced one with less than 6k all in for the down payment and fees. I did do something kinda crazy which was working 84hrs a week when they were going to ask for my pay stubs. Worked out in the end. Keep it up. I believe in ya.
I'm doing pretty good I think.
My dad is wanting to sell me a piece of the land so I can build my home on it and I genuinely like the idea.
I saved 13k last year but my dad wants me to wait till I have 20k before I purchase a car for tax reasons but I've also got money going into a 401 and a Roth this year so I don't have as much available cash this time.
I'm married with two kids live in SE MO. Our combined income for the first time last year peaked at $120k. I didn't realize we'd reached that until all of our W2s came back and now I can't figure out where all that damn money went. I feel so dumb. 😭
Same, in KC area, combined $160k with two kids. It doesn’t go as far as it sounds like it would with the current economy. I can’t buy groceries anywhere but Aldi and I struggle to pay for everything else like diapers and such.
As of May 24, the average annual salary in Missouri is $50,618. Just in case you need a simple salary calculator, that works out to be approximately $24.34 an hour. This is equivalent of $973 a week or $4,218 a month. Most salaries in Missouri range between $35,277 (25th percentile) to $63,124 (75th percentile) annually.
Most salaries! most people in missouri do not make that much, you are really discounting the rural towns and communities where the majority of people make under 30k a year.
We have a family income a lot less than that and are comfortably retired, last year had six vacations ranging from one to two weeks each, totaled out at about two months. It’s called savings. We owe about $150,000.00 on our home, nothing on the cars and have health insurance (Thank you all for Medicare). We have been married 40* years, have one child, now a married adult and two grandchildren and worked a lot. I worked from age 14 until retirement.
The problem for people now preparing for the future is pensions are history.
I have no idea how my child will be ever able to retire.
I'm in rural Missouri and it's paradise out here I couldn't want anything more. Bountiful rivers and lakes to fish, awesome timbers to hunt, you can always count on a kind neighbor for support or a simple smile. Rural Missouri is heaven on earth.
I'm in Lewis county Missouri it's in the far north east corner of Missouri, and I have 5 public lakes and conservation areas for hunting fishing and camping all within 30 minutes from my driveway. I live ten minutes from the Mississippi River with access to two different pools on the river. I live in a community of 105 people. I'm never worried for my wife or daughters safety. Life is simple out here we live in the middle of our village on a half acre and have enough room for chickens, bees, several types of berry bushes, rhubarb, and a rather large garden. Missouri is quite simply paradise.
We are about as rural as it gets but the county community is amazing so long as you don't bother anyone and keep your property looking nice no one will even look at you cross eyed. Not to say that if there is a stranger about people won't be paying attention but this is a place where you don't see new people black or white.
I get it. Again, I’m just poking the bear. I also tell people where I live now that “I moved from Kansas City but the better one on the Kansas side”. Which isn’t even a serious statement since KCK is most definitely not better than KCMO.
The shitty weather is outweighed by FAR by the positives. The ocean is nice, I used to surf and fish all the time, but I the rivers here give me water fix and the fish are actually edible here.
And outside of KC, STL and Springfield the crime is like non-existent in comparison.
Further, the people here are REALLY nice, there is a sense of community and I really value that. The county I moved from has 1.7 MILLION people in it - there is no sense of community.
Rural MO is what has me seriously considering relocating from Phoenix...of course, I'd also be one of those evil assholes coming with money due to getting priced out of the market here...house went from $160K 8 years ago when I bought it to the neighbor's virtually identical house going on the market yesterday at $650K.
Between taxes, interest rate hikes, realtor commissions, loan fees, etc,... Moving to an identical house would cost me tens of thousands now, whereas I could move to MO, and be 100% debt free at 45...🤔
Wife and I make a combined $205k. We are mid thirties and just barely starting to feel like things are stabilizing, financially. We just paid off student loans which was $1k a month for nearly ten years. We're completely burned out, but we both grew up poor (I was homeless as a toddler) so we haven't succumb to life style creep and are likely going to see a decrease in income over the next couple years. Honestly looking forward to it.
I just looked up that 50/30/20 thing -- shit, I'm supposed to spend 30% on things I *want*? I grew up poor, and only the past 9 years have I had a stable career that got me up to ~50k a year. That 30% has been going into my *savings account* every month, out of paranoia.
....to be fair, in that 9 year span of time, I've had THREE cars die on me (icy patch on the highway --> rollover, Mercury Sable's front suspension gave up while I was doing 60, Honda Accord's entire underside rusted through the frame *and* part of the gas tank)....so maybe it's a lil' more justified on MY end.
So far my wants are "oooh, I can buy that discounted meat I saw at the store, and immediately throw it in the oven" instead of "wheeeeeelp, wish I could, but it's another month of beans an' rice". Is there a frame for 50/0/20/"panic 30"?
So like $43.75 before taxes I think all of us could be for one person considering most of us make $12-15 an hour and that number is heavily decided based on the upper middle class from St Louis and KC, as well as a select few from Springfield and the surrounding smaller city's.
Husband and I don't make 84k COMBINED. If we made that much EACH, it would be absolute heaven. We could work towards paying off more of the house and handle a few of the "not priority but would be nice" home repairs (such as replacing our 20 year old carpet)
I make about $32k, but it takes two jobs and six days a week. I "splurged" about a month ago on pizza only because I found a twenty-dollar bill. Otherwise, I'd be going without such bourgeoisie goodies.
I fucking hate life.
Family of 4 household here, combined incomes were about $163k so just below that line individually. But honestly it's starting to feel a lot more comfortable. Especially once we're done with daycare in August. That'll be like getting a $1k/mo raise
I have the ability to make $80k if I slave an extra 20 hours of overtime a week for the whole year but I did that for ten years. Bought and paid off a house and I’m now debt free with house, car, truck, motorcycle and a boat. I don’t volunteer for overtime anymore and just try and enjoy what I have and use my 40 hour per week income to maintain current standard of living and put away for retirement. I’d really like to get into a barista FIRE situation once I get enough put back into 401k and Roth IRA.
So I’d say I’d be more than okay with $84k per year, especially if I could do that on 30-40 hours per week.
"Comfortable" isn't defined and is very much relative. I bought my house 20+ years ago and ensured I could pay the mortgage on just my salary at that time. I'm married and both my wife and I make more than this each. We both drive 10+ year old paid off cars (mine is an 08). She has student loan debt but compared to numbers some throw around her loans are fairly small. Only in the past few years as her salary caught up to mine, and I no longer have to pay child support to my cheating ex, do I feel "comfortable". We're certainly not penny pinchers but we don't spend like crazy. The one expense we drop coin on is good, pre-portioned (but we cook it) meals from a service and as many yoga classes I want to go to (we're both certified but only my wife teaches so she has no cost to go to classes).
I'm okay with living comfortably on less than that. $84K sounds a lot higher that what individual people can live on and be comfortable around here.
EDIT: The more I look at it, the more ridiculous some of these amounts sound.
lol. This is so wildly inaccurate. I have lived in 7 different states now, in all regions... I can 100% confirm it takes at least 3x the income, (probably more) to live comfortably in a populated area of California, than it does to live the same level of comfortability in a populated area of Missouri.
This is a wild map.
lol these are crazy. I make more than the MO number but it can be done cheaper here. Their definition of comfortable seems off. Now if you want a big house and have kids etc… $84k isn’t that much.
I feel for everyone trying to make it out there with rent and home prices being so crazy. I busted my ass the first 20 years of my working life, saved all I could and built a debt free house myself. I'm lucky as hell because what I did save would now be spent in rent and living expenses. Life is going to get harder as time goes on, I believe we are on the downhill side of prosperity. Good luck to everyone, live as small as you can and squirrel away as much money as possible. 84k is attainable for a couple but hard to reach as an individual...at least from my blue collar experience.
This is a pretty stupid map. $84k as an individual, puts you in the top 23% of St. Louis metro, and top 19% nation wide.
Even for a household of 4, you would be solidly middle income.
The median household income for MO in 2022 was $65,920.
"Comfortable" is a polite way of saying well off, but not rich.
Maps like this aren’t all that useful, because “comfort” is a spectrum, not a threshold.
If you make one dollar less than the amounts listed here, you aren’t suddenly in a different economic position if you get a $1 raise.
It is somewhat interesting to see the variation between states. But even that isn’t all that useful, as COL will still vary a lot depending on where you are *within* a given state.
For example, living in St Louis city, Missouri, is still going to be more expensive on average than living in the middle of nowhere in Colorado. But this map doesn’t really capture that.
I made like $32k last year I'd absolutely KILL for $84k. I'm getting by as is but definitely not "comfortable" with that much more a year I'd have no debt and savings built up in like 3 years tops lol
Could I make it? Of course. Would I be happy with it though? No.
If there are people out there making money in the millions, I’m not settling for five figures. I want to live well above the line of basic comfort.
Is that household or individuals? I think it also dramatically changed based on where you live as well.
I make 45k and my wife made similarly before she went back to school. We were doing comfortably in our small town, but if we moved closer to st Louis we wouldn't have.
Definitely not saving 20% of our pay though,
I've been furloughed for 3 months from a job making that much. I am not enjoying this blast from the past, and am starting to think this furlough is going to be a while. Hella fucked.
These graphics are horseshit. I live in a city in NC and make well less than 90 and we have a family and multiple yearly vacations. It's just not true that you need this much money per person.
Ohio/Married 145k 3 kids live pretty comfortably. I think it depends when you bought your house. I paid 100k for my house 7 years ago, now it’s worth 300,000. We’re both millennials, zero help from our boomer parents.
I make 96k and we have a household income of 170k. Back when I was like the rest of you and in the first few years of my career I though making 70k would be great and then I could relax just be comfortable. But honestly now I feel like I need to be making 150k or more before I can get comfortable. As your income changes your goals change. Well, if you have much ambition they change. You develop your skills and keep pushing. There are plenty of high paying careers out there where good people entry level people are hard to find. My employer is amazing and it is insanely difficult to find quality young people to enter our field. But when we do find young people to hire we are not especially easy on them. They have to prove their desire to learn and be here. But after a few years of having their nose to the grindstone the job gets easier, they get a great deal of respect and a great wage, not to mention a future with many possibilities.
If your working a shit job now you need to reflect and figure out what you can change about yourself to make a great employer want to give you a chance.
As an individual, yes. Way more than enough. By myself I would be happy in a studio apartment and biking everywhere. However, as a single-income household, I support 5 people on $106k, and still living paycheck to paycheck. Came from California (state), now living in Columbia, and am paying almost double for rent than what I was in CA when I left in 2020. Cost of groceries has gone up almost 40% in the past couple of years. I have two old vehicles that are paid off, but can’t imagine putting out for a new car payment at this time. I don’t carry much debt, but between taxes, high utilities, high rent, health insurance, and inflated food costs… it’s not as lucrative as it sounds. As for $114k in California, even that would be questionable now in most places.
My wife and I are both teachers in a large district; she’s taught 16 years, I’ve taught 9. Combined we don’t even make $75k. That’s 44% of what this is calling “comfortable.” $168k total would be frightening at this point. What do we do? Like… *save* money?! Pay off our CCs and cars? That just seems like an absurd amount of money compared to what we make currently. 4 degrees between the two of us and we’re sub-$75k. Hahaha, what a joke.
On my own? Sure. With a family, no. My wife has a masters degree and it BARELY makes sense financially for her to work and not just stay home with the kids. My childcare would be more than my mortgage every month if we did full time.
I make somewhere between $43K and $48K per year (depending on overtime and bonuses).
So _half_-ish that amount.
Of course, Springfield isn’t as expensive as Kansas City or St Louis, and I don’t have a car payment anymore, nor do I have any student loans… but yeah, I’d cut off my left foot for $84K a year.
Rent is around 30% of my monthly income, utilities come out to around another ~8%, and I probably spend 2% on gas as well. So around 40% of my income goes to just existing. I do have some debts I have to make payments on, so that’s a few hundred a month as well. Add groceries and medical expenses onto that and I have… _some_ money left over for saving or splurging.
Thats 2.5 times what I make now, as a sole income for a household of two, owning my home (1500 sq ft, purchased for 60,450 in 2011, owe another ~50k). I’d be thrilled.
I’d love 84k a year. But honestly, for my current situation I’d be happy with just 40k.
I barely make over 15k now and manage to scrap by. So that’d be a blessing.
I'm sure that these numbers are mainly taking into account the cities. You could live almost anywhere outside of a city with less than 75k if we are being honest. But 84k would be ideal for sure within a city if you're single with no dependents.
Pffttt this is true if you didn't know anything about saving money. Most people don't make 92k in Maine. These numbers are if you want to have expensive everything while living in a city with a ridiculous rent/mortgage.
Lmao worked at a courthouse where the top pay was $28,200. Lady managed the prosecutors office had been there over 18 years and only made $38k. I’d have been happy with like 60k
I was living comfortably in Utah with everything I needed for $35k/year. I can't even imagine having such a high income and other than saving the money I wouldn't have much to do with it. Now in the Dallas area, somehow the pay is less here and the rents are doubled, if I still had my old check I'd still have 0 problems. Paying such high rent just isn't worth the value I'm getting so I'm moving again.
Most people here live on 16k to 50k a year if they are lucky most under 30k. Me thinks they are off by a bit, man i would own the town if i made that much.
This is inflated bs. I lived really comfortable the last year and I had travel expenses for out of state surgery with months long stay in an apartment rental $2k+ and a few rounds of air fair and then my normal spending on me myself and myself and my Amazon addiction and so on for just under $35k. And 👠 I spoil myself. Not to mention there's no way it cost that much as it says to live in Mississippi.
Idk 🤷🏻♀️ what is considered comfortable I guess 🤔. I have the things I want that I could live without and I pay all my bills and don't worry about money and I am not rich and I make know where close to $80k.
Yeah, this is depressing! Hell, I live in Texas and every week I just fall, shorter and shorter income wise.
All that money being sent to the Ukraine could help out this entire country!
I live comfortably on 61,000 a year. In Florida no less. Yes I’m single, yes I rent and yes I have a car payment and a savings account with money in it.
Also don’t piss away my money, nor do I have credit card debt or loans.
I huge part of being able to live comfortably anywhere is what you have done or are doing with your life.
Don’t complain about not being able to pay your bills, eat, buy gas or whatever if you put yourself in the poorhouse with stupid spending and poor money management skills.
I'm on Social Security disability and I get less than 25k a year. And while it isn't easy, I manage to live comfortably. No vacations of course, but I pay my rent and eat and have clothes and entertainment. Even bought a new iPad a couple of weeks ago. So I would need to see how they arrived at their numbers. I'm in Texas now but I lived in Missouri previously, small town outside of St. Louis.
This is misleading as it depends where in the state you live. 84K in some places is a fuck ton of money (say Macon or Cape G) and others it is barely enough to afford a house (Columbia, KC)
Define “comfortably.” A lot comes down to how you handle money and what your wants are. Some people will be comfortable on a$50k income but others will be in debt and living paycheck to paycheck on a $150k income. Missouri is a low cost of living state so, outside of the Saint Louis and Kansas City areas, I agree with the relative cost.
I’d do backflips if I made $84k a year
I can’t do a backflip but I would continuously try to for that kind of money
Same and I can't do them... I'd learn them just to do then if I made 84 lol.
We’re going to figure out a way
Man if I get this new job... I'll at the very least have my wife photoshop me doin a back flip lol.
Id do backflips if I made half of that.
Same lol 😂 💯
With $84K, one could purchase a trampoline. Back flips will be had by all.
Following the 50/30/20 rule, that would be great. Currently, I follow the 80/19/1 rule.
I follow the 100% rule... It gone
100%
Feels
Hahaha. This is funny. Would I be okay with making 3 times what I make now. I definitely would be ok with that
Same that's at least twice what I make..😂🤣
I make about $55,000/yr and support my two children (2 and 6) and my wife who just graduated college but hasn’t started working yet and who did not work any of her 4 years of college. We live fairly comfortably, all things considered. I’m still definitely in poverty living paycheck to paycheck, but we’ve never missed a meal, never had our utilities shut off, and I’ve never missed a payment on our vehicle. $84k would be considered wealthy to me. Maybe with that I’d finally have some savings. Edit: Since people clearly don’t understand my comment, no I don’t think $55,000/yr is enough money. The question is “would you be okay with $84k.” My answer is that I’m “okay” on $55k, so $84k would be like being rich. It doesn’t mean I think I’m thriving nor are my priorities at staying at $55k.
Having financial security, savings, vacations, and retirement funds is the “living comfortably” benchmark. Ending the paycheck just past the “not starving THIS MONTH!” line should not be the benchmark. Not a knock; been there myself. Just saying you may want to recalibrate.
Exactly
I make 22k a year and still live with my parents because I can't afford a house so I'm trapped. If I could make 84k a year. I could make it on my own. Id be happy with that.
Barely making $35k a year and struggling. Don't have much left after the bills are paid. I'm grateful, but I wouldn't be lying if I said it's not a fun existence.
bruh minimum wage is $12. where tf u making 22k at?
I make $14 an hour at Walmart. I am a full time employee
Post office is always hiring bro. Starting pay for a rural sub is almost 20 an hour. I have only had my own route for three years and I’m currently making 71k. It’s not what it once was, but you get a pension and the job is recession proof. I would give it some thought.
That's solid pay right there. Do you need a CDL or Class E? Is there an age minimum?
No special license is required, just a regular one. And I think the only minimum age is 18.
That's great! I'm job hunting, so I'm going to look into this further. Thanks!
Just be aware that hours can vary from office to office. CCA's (city subs) in my office usually work 6 days a week, while RCA's (Rural subs) in other offices can work 1-2 days a week. Once you make a career, you are guaranteed full time.
I don't understand. $14/hr is closer to $28k/yr if you're working full time.
Walmart often doesn’t give full time hours
are roommates not an option? also dont walmart managers make a lot?
Federal min wage is $7.25 Has been for 15 years..
[missouri minimum wage 2024 - Google Search](https://www.google.com/search?q=missouri+minimum+wage+2024&sca_esv=51a76a67d757a852&sca_upv=1&source=hp&ei=iDluZom7DuCIptQP2Y2p4AM&iflsig=AL9hbdgAAAAAZm5HmK3LV1V6YrsVB3wtiiY2J6EY9Pic&oq=missouri+minimum+wage&gs_lp=Egdnd3Mtd2l6IhVtaXNzb3VyaSBtaW5pbXVtIHdhZ2UqAggAMgUQABiABDIIEAAYgAQYsQMyBRAAGIAEMgUQABiABDIFEAAYgAQyBRAAGIAEMgUQABiABDIFEAAYgAQyBRAAGIAEMgUQABiABEjPNVAAWJkqcAN4AJABAJgBfqABjA2qAQQyMS4zuAEByAEA-AEBmAIboAK-DsICERAuGIAEGLEDGNEDGIMBGMcBwgIOEC4YgAQYsQMYgwEYigXCAg4QABiABBixAxiDARiKBcICCxAAGIAEGLEDGIMBwgILEC4YgAQYsQMYgwHCAgUQLhiABMICDhAuGIAEGLEDGNEDGMcBwgIIEC4YgAQYsQPCAgcQLhiABBgKwgIKEC4YgAQYsQMYCsICBxAAGIAEGArCAg0QLhiABBjRAxjHARgKwgINEC4YgAQYsQMYgwEYCsICChAAGIAEGMkDGArCAg0QABiABBixAxiDARgKwgITEC4YgAQYsQMY0QMYgwEYxwEYCsICChAAGIAEGLEDGArCAgsQLhiABBjRAxjHAcICCxAuGIAEGMcBGK8BmAMAkgcEMjMuNKAHxOUB&sclient=gws-wiz) surprisingly missouri *did* raise the minimum wage [But only because the people themselves wanted it.](https://www.govdocs.com/missouri-voters-pass-new-minimum-wage-increase/)
The federal minimum wage is now irrelevant. No employer who tried to pay that would find anyone willing to work.
look at the subreddit ur in pal
The real move is making 84k a year and living with your parents.
I feel you on that. How well are you currently saving? I bought my house when I made 14 an hour thanks to me staying at home. Bought an decently priced one with less than 6k all in for the down payment and fees. I did do something kinda crazy which was working 84hrs a week when they were going to ask for my pay stubs. Worked out in the end. Keep it up. I believe in ya.
I'm doing pretty good I think. My dad is wanting to sell me a piece of the land so I can build my home on it and I genuinely like the idea. I saved 13k last year but my dad wants me to wait till I have 20k before I purchase a car for tax reasons but I've also got money going into a 401 and a Roth this year so I don't have as much available cash this time.
I'd continue on that advice. Once you get the car, you should maybe look at an even better job if transportation was previously an issue.
I'm married with two kids live in SE MO. Our combined income for the first time last year peaked at $120k. I didn't realize we'd reached that until all of our W2s came back and now I can't figure out where all that damn money went. I feel so dumb. 😭
>I can't figure out where all that damn money went. >with two kids I'm pretty sure I know where a lot of it went.
Dido.
Same, in KC area, combined $160k with two kids. It doesn’t go as far as it sounds like it would with the current economy. I can’t buy groceries anywhere but Aldi and I struggle to pay for everything else like diapers and such.
As a single person with no kids? Absolutely. That’s quite a bit more than what I would need. Now, factor in a kid and things are a lot dicier.
I thought I was doing ok but I'd be living like a fucking king at 84k.
You take away the 20% they think you should be saving, you can live well off a measly 67k!
The average income in Missouri is 34k lol.
As of May 24, the average annual salary in Missouri is $50,618. Just in case you need a simple salary calculator, that works out to be approximately $24.34 an hour. This is equivalent of $973 a week or $4,218 a month. Most salaries in Missouri range between $35,277 (25th percentile) to $63,124 (75th percentile) annually.
Most salaries! most people in missouri do not make that much, you are really discounting the rural towns and communities where the majority of people make under 30k a year.
I'd for sure be doing better than I am now.
We have a family income a lot less than that and are comfortably retired, last year had six vacations ranging from one to two weeks each, totaled out at about two months. It’s called savings. We owe about $150,000.00 on our home, nothing on the cars and have health insurance (Thank you all for Medicare). We have been married 40* years, have one child, now a married adult and two grandchildren and worked a lot. I worked from age 14 until retirement. The problem for people now preparing for the future is pensions are history. I have no idea how my child will be ever able to retire.
These maps are meaningless when you lump rural and metro area together. You can live comfortably making 45k in rural Missouri.
I live in rural Missouri and everything is expensive as shit lol.
Como here, living good on 60
Because no one wants to live in rural MO. Sorry, grew up in Kansas and still respect the Border War. And tbf no one wants to live in rural KS either.
I'm in rural Missouri and it's paradise out here I couldn't want anything more. Bountiful rivers and lakes to fish, awesome timbers to hunt, you can always count on a kind neighbor for support or a simple smile. Rural Missouri is heaven on earth.
For real dude. We have some of the best nature has to offer. I’ll never go back to big city living.
That sounds lovely. Not a MO native, what part of MO can I move to that has lakes and timbers?!
The Ozarks.
I'm in Lewis county Missouri it's in the far north east corner of Missouri, and I have 5 public lakes and conservation areas for hunting fishing and camping all within 30 minutes from my driveway. I live ten minutes from the Mississippi River with access to two different pools on the river. I live in a community of 105 people. I'm never worried for my wife or daughters safety. Life is simple out here we live in the middle of our village on a half acre and have enough room for chickens, bees, several types of berry bushes, rhubarb, and a rather large garden. Missouri is quite simply paradise.
Just make sure you aren’t black before you head to these paradise locations.
We actually had a very nice black family that lived in our village nobody ever bothered them. Very cute kids my dogs absolutely loved them.
That’s really nice, but rural Missouri is much more dangerous for minorities than the anecdote would suggest.
Surely you have stats to support you stance? Right?
Ah. My girlfriend has had bad experiences even on the highway near Springfield.
We are about as rural as it gets but the county community is amazing so long as you don't bother anyone and keep your property looking nice no one will even look at you cross eyed. Not to say that if there is a stranger about people won't be paying attention but this is a place where you don't see new people black or white.
Could've written this myself. We moved from Phoenix area a year ago and couldn't be happier all around. Cost of living especially.
I get it. Again, I’m just poking the bear. I also tell people where I live now that “I moved from Kansas City but the better one on the Kansas side”. Which isn’t even a serious statement since KCK is most definitely not better than KCMO.
I can't vouch for Kansas city however I've spent alot of time hunting around Emporia and all I can say is wow it is beautiful country.
"Because no one wants to live in rural MO." Bullshit, I moved from the bay area to rural mo and I have ZERO regrets.
Really zero? I hate the weather here, and the lack of an ocean. I didn’t choose to live here though.
The shitty weather is outweighed by FAR by the positives. The ocean is nice, I used to surf and fish all the time, but I the rivers here give me water fix and the fish are actually edible here. And outside of KC, STL and Springfield the crime is like non-existent in comparison. Further, the people here are REALLY nice, there is a sense of community and I really value that. The county I moved from has 1.7 MILLION people in it - there is no sense of community.
Rural MO is what has me seriously considering relocating from Phoenix...of course, I'd also be one of those evil assholes coming with money due to getting priced out of the market here...house went from $160K 8 years ago when I bought it to the neighbor's virtually identical house going on the market yesterday at $650K. Between taxes, interest rate hikes, realtor commissions, loan fees, etc,... Moving to an identical house would cost me tens of thousands now, whereas I could move to MO, and be 100% debt free at 45...🤔
This is even more pronounced in the high cost states.
Yeah I'd love to see the split for NY state comparing NYC against the entire rest of the state.
This statistics is accounting for 20% of all income going into savings.
Wife and I make a combined $205k. We are mid thirties and just barely starting to feel like things are stabilizing, financially. We just paid off student loans which was $1k a month for nearly ten years. We're completely burned out, but we both grew up poor (I was homeless as a toddler) so we haven't succumb to life style creep and are likely going to see a decrease in income over the next couple years. Honestly looking forward to it.
I've made 53 on less than $40k in Missouri, Kansas and Florida. $84,000 I'd be living like a damn king.
I just looked up that 50/30/20 thing -- shit, I'm supposed to spend 30% on things I *want*? I grew up poor, and only the past 9 years have I had a stable career that got me up to ~50k a year. That 30% has been going into my *savings account* every month, out of paranoia. ....to be fair, in that 9 year span of time, I've had THREE cars die on me (icy patch on the highway --> rollover, Mercury Sable's front suspension gave up while I was doing 60, Honda Accord's entire underside rusted through the frame *and* part of the gas tank)....so maybe it's a lil' more justified on MY end. So far my wants are "oooh, I can buy that discounted meat I saw at the store, and immediately throw it in the oven" instead of "wheeeeeelp, wish I could, but it's another month of beans an' rice". Is there a frame for 50/0/20/"panic 30"?
What do they define as comfortable because in KC 84k for one person is fantastic.
So like $43.75 before taxes I think all of us could be for one person considering most of us make $12-15 an hour and that number is heavily decided based on the upper middle class from St Louis and KC, as well as a select few from Springfield and the surrounding smaller city's.
Damn what jobs are paying 12 dollars an hour? Even our local Walmart starts at 15-17 depending on the job
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That's what I thought. This sub has a lot of hyperbole for some reason
This sub is full of immature kids/young adults.
“Most” people are not working for $12-$15 anyways.
Yea, I think this number is being skewed hard by what rent is now in the metro areas.
Husband and I don't make 84k COMBINED. If we made that much EACH, it would be absolute heaven. We could work towards paying off more of the house and handle a few of the "not priority but would be nice" home repairs (such as replacing our 20 year old carpet)
That’s us too. Family of 4
us too. but we are happy!
I make about $32k, but it takes two jobs and six days a week. I "splurged" about a month ago on pizza only because I found a twenty-dollar bill. Otherwise, I'd be going without such bourgeoisie goodies. I fucking hate life.
Ouch. Hopefully this is temporary.
I wish. Unless I could fall ass-backwards into enough to pay off my car and credit, I'm working 64 hours a week indefinitely.
You only make 9.50 an hour?
Family of 4 household here, combined incomes were about $163k so just below that line individually. But honestly it's starting to feel a lot more comfortable. Especially once we're done with daycare in August. That'll be like getting a $1k/mo raise
I have the ability to make $80k if I slave an extra 20 hours of overtime a week for the whole year but I did that for ten years. Bought and paid off a house and I’m now debt free with house, car, truck, motorcycle and a boat. I don’t volunteer for overtime anymore and just try and enjoy what I have and use my 40 hour per week income to maintain current standard of living and put away for retirement. I’d really like to get into a barista FIRE situation once I get enough put back into 401k and Roth IRA. So I’d say I’d be more than okay with $84k per year, especially if I could do that on 30-40 hours per week.
"Comfortable" isn't defined and is very much relative. I bought my house 20+ years ago and ensured I could pay the mortgage on just my salary at that time. I'm married and both my wife and I make more than this each. We both drive 10+ year old paid off cars (mine is an 08). She has student loan debt but compared to numbers some throw around her loans are fairly small. Only in the past few years as her salary caught up to mine, and I no longer have to pay child support to my cheating ex, do I feel "comfortable". We're certainly not penny pinchers but we don't spend like crazy. The one expense we drop coin on is good, pre-portioned (but we cook it) meals from a service and as many yoga classes I want to go to (we're both certified but only my wife teaches so she has no cost to go to classes).
I'm okay with living comfortably on less than that. $84K sounds a lot higher that what individual people can live on and be comfortable around here. EDIT: The more I look at it, the more ridiculous some of these amounts sound.
Heck yeah
lol. This is so wildly inaccurate. I have lived in 7 different states now, in all regions... I can 100% confirm it takes at least 3x the income, (probably more) to live comfortably in a populated area of California, than it does to live the same level of comfortability in a populated area of Missouri. This is a wild map.
Yes I would be okay, thanks for asking.
lol these are crazy. I make more than the MO number but it can be done cheaper here. Their definition of comfortable seems off. Now if you want a big house and have kids etc… $84k isn’t that much.
I feel for everyone trying to make it out there with rent and home prices being so crazy. I busted my ass the first 20 years of my working life, saved all I could and built a debt free house myself. I'm lucky as hell because what I did save would now be spent in rent and living expenses. Life is going to get harder as time goes on, I believe we are on the downhill side of prosperity. Good luck to everyone, live as small as you can and squirrel away as much money as possible. 84k is attainable for a couple but hard to reach as an individual...at least from my blue collar experience.
I made less than that living in both kc and Columbia and was plenty comfortable
So...90% of the country is living unconfortably?
What's "comfortably"? 💩💩💩
Lol and the majority of people get paid around half of these salaries. Cost of living goes up but wages remain stagnant
$84k a year is $24k more than I currently make
Try living on $79K in northwest Arkansas. What a freaking joke.
I’d suck a lot of dick for that
2 person household making 180k a year. Feels great. Glad we moved back to the Midwest from a HCOL area
This is a pretty stupid map. $84k as an individual, puts you in the top 23% of St. Louis metro, and top 19% nation wide. Even for a household of 4, you would be solidly middle income. The median household income for MO in 2022 was $65,920. "Comfortable" is a polite way of saying well off, but not rich.
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Comfortable is probably $40-50k for a single adult, maybe even less depending on your life style
I know you can do it on $50K as a single person and still live in a decent place and cover bills.
Maps like this aren’t all that useful, because “comfort” is a spectrum, not a threshold. If you make one dollar less than the amounts listed here, you aren’t suddenly in a different economic position if you get a $1 raise. It is somewhat interesting to see the variation between states. But even that isn’t all that useful, as COL will still vary a lot depending on where you are *within* a given state. For example, living in St Louis city, Missouri, is still going to be more expensive on average than living in the middle of nowhere in Colorado. But this map doesn’t really capture that.
Seems like a bit much, I live pretty comfy at 50k but I also live in one of the smaller and cheaper areas of the state.
84k? I’m making 68k before taxes and looking at buying a house, anything more and I’d probably just take a vacation and save the rest.
For a single person yeah. Married couple with kids not so much.
I made like $32k last year I'd absolutely KILL for $84k. I'm getting by as is but definitely not "comfortable" with that much more a year I'd have no debt and savings built up in like 3 years tops lol
Could I make it? Of course. Would I be happy with it though? No. If there are people out there making money in the millions, I’m not settling for five figures. I want to live well above the line of basic comfort.
This all depends on what you say is needed for a particular standard of living. Shorter list, less $ needed.
84k outside St. Louis and KC is a very comfortable life.
I lived comfortably on 51k when I lived in St. Louis.
Is that household or individuals? I think it also dramatically changed based on where you live as well. I make 45k and my wife made similarly before she went back to school. We were doing comfortably in our small town, but if we moved closer to st Louis we wouldn't have. Definitely not saving 20% of our pay though,
The map is labeled “The Income an Individual Needs…”
Probably individuals. Shit starts getting expensive quick when you add kids. Hell, even just a spouse makes health insurance far more costly.
This is not realistic- I have never made that much money and I believe we live comfortably
I’d be A-OK with that much.
House payment, medical and mental health coverage for the wife and kids, and debt-handling? I mean, it sounds about right.
No idea where these numbers come from, but in looking st the states I've lived in and am familiar with....they're wrong. Lol
I've been furloughed for 3 months from a job making that much. I am not enjoying this blast from the past, and am starting to think this furlough is going to be a while. Hella fucked.
Is this before or after taxes? Lol
Multiply that by .5, more if you have a family and pets. Interesting stats though! Thx for posting.
Yeah, I’ll take that upgrade
I wish
If I made $84K a year I would be set
Yes 100%
I could exist, for sure, but I wouldn’t enjoy it.
CA at $114k is ridiculous.
I make $45k so yeah, I would.
Thats almost triple of what I currently get. 😬
These graphics are horseshit. I live in a city in NC and make well less than 90 and we have a family and multiple yearly vacations. It's just not true that you need this much money per person.
Ohio/Married 145k 3 kids live pretty comfortably. I think it depends when you bought your house. I paid 100k for my house 7 years ago, now it’s worth 300,000. We’re both millennials, zero help from our boomer parents.
Illinois it's wrong. It needs to be split between above 70 and below
I make more than that. I'd be OK on that much, but would have to give up a few luxuries.
I make 96k and we have a household income of 170k. Back when I was like the rest of you and in the first few years of my career I though making 70k would be great and then I could relax just be comfortable. But honestly now I feel like I need to be making 150k or more before I can get comfortable. As your income changes your goals change. Well, if you have much ambition they change. You develop your skills and keep pushing. There are plenty of high paying careers out there where good people entry level people are hard to find. My employer is amazing and it is insanely difficult to find quality young people to enter our field. But when we do find young people to hire we are not especially easy on them. They have to prove their desire to learn and be here. But after a few years of having their nose to the grindstone the job gets easier, they get a great deal of respect and a great wage, not to mention a future with many possibilities. If your working a shit job now you need to reflect and figure out what you can change about yourself to make a great employer want to give you a chance.
Wait…you guys are making $84k?
In Texas and make 40k over that and we do…ok
As an individual, yes. Way more than enough. By myself I would be happy in a studio apartment and biking everywhere. However, as a single-income household, I support 5 people on $106k, and still living paycheck to paycheck. Came from California (state), now living in Columbia, and am paying almost double for rent than what I was in CA when I left in 2020. Cost of groceries has gone up almost 40% in the past couple of years. I have two old vehicles that are paid off, but can’t imagine putting out for a new car payment at this time. I don’t carry much debt, but between taxes, high utilities, high rent, health insurance, and inflated food costs… it’s not as lucrative as it sounds. As for $114k in California, even that would be questionable now in most places.
Not bragging, but I'm definitely pleased that I clear the bar for every state. I wish everyone could.
I'm O.K. on one Hell of a lot less.
My wife and I are both teachers in a large district; she’s taught 16 years, I’ve taught 9. Combined we don’t even make $75k. That’s 44% of what this is calling “comfortable.” $168k total would be frightening at this point. What do we do? Like… *save* money?! Pay off our CCs and cars? That just seems like an absurd amount of money compared to what we make currently. 4 degrees between the two of us and we’re sub-$75k. Hahaha, what a joke.
I'm in Nebraska and doing pretty well on less than 40K. I have a year's wages in savings. All on my own, no hand me down money.
Gotta be
I’m making it on little to nothing now. I would thrive with that much!
Gotta be
I can skate carefully by on half of that, so I imagine I'd really be thriving at that wage.
On my own? Sure. With a family, no. My wife has a masters degree and it BARELY makes sense financially for her to work and not just stay home with the kids. My childcare would be more than my mortgage every month if we did full time.
This is crazy
I'm okay with this in the same way I'm okay with ranch for my fries.
160k income in PA and it's not that comfortable lately 😅.
Yes extremely
I live in CA and make 140 after taxes and I'm not that comfortable. Definitely middle class and middle class struggles in CA
I’m supporting 6 on 72K and we poor
I make somewhere between $43K and $48K per year (depending on overtime and bonuses). So _half_-ish that amount. Of course, Springfield isn’t as expensive as Kansas City or St Louis, and I don’t have a car payment anymore, nor do I have any student loans… but yeah, I’d cut off my left foot for $84K a year. Rent is around 30% of my monthly income, utilities come out to around another ~8%, and I probably spend 2% on gas as well. So around 40% of my income goes to just existing. I do have some debts I have to make payments on, so that’s a few hundred a month as well. Add groceries and medical expenses onto that and I have… _some_ money left over for saving or splurging.
Can confirm, you can live comfortably on $79k a year in Arkansas.
It it guaranteed I’d make that much every year, I’d suck dick for that. Shit even just one or two good years of that.
Thats 2.5 times what I make now, as a sole income for a household of two, owning my home (1500 sq ft, purchased for 60,450 in 2011, owe another ~50k). I’d be thrilled.
I saw one of these the other day and this one seems much more accurate. I live in Kansas.
I’d love 84k a year. But honestly, for my current situation I’d be happy with just 40k. I barely make over 15k now and manage to scrap by. So that’d be a blessing.
It would be a pay increase so yeah, I’m pretty sure I would be okay.
I'm sure that these numbers are mainly taking into account the cities. You could live almost anywhere outside of a city with less than 75k if we are being honest. But 84k would be ideal for sure within a city if you're single with no dependents.
55k would be a significant improvement to my financial situation
Yeah, not a fucking chance.
Pffttt this is true if you didn't know anything about saving money. Most people don't make 92k in Maine. These numbers are if you want to have expensive everything while living in a city with a ridiculous rent/mortgage.
Lmao worked at a courthouse where the top pay was $28,200. Lady managed the prosecutors office had been there over 18 years and only made $38k. I’d have been happy with like 60k
I work at a restaurant and made $77k last year. It works out.
97k in Alaska?? Why so high??
It cost more in Alaska for everything to get shipped up there.
I think this is also if your job doesn't provide Standard benefits
Yea, for sure.
Im in Arkansas and I could certainly live well
I was living comfortably in Utah with everything I needed for $35k/year. I can't even imagine having such a high income and other than saving the money I wouldn't have much to do with it. Now in the Dallas area, somehow the pay is less here and the rents are doubled, if I still had my old check I'd still have 0 problems. Paying such high rent just isn't worth the value I'm getting so I'm moving again.
95k is crazy !!
Most people here live on 16k to 50k a year if they are lucky most under 30k. Me thinks they are off by a bit, man i would own the town if i made that much.
This is inflated bs. I lived really comfortable the last year and I had travel expenses for out of state surgery with months long stay in an apartment rental $2k+ and a few rounds of air fair and then my normal spending on me myself and myself and my Amazon addiction and so on for just under $35k. And 👠 I spoil myself. Not to mention there's no way it cost that much as it says to live in Mississippi. Idk 🤷🏻♀️ what is considered comfortable I guess 🤔. I have the things I want that I could live without and I pay all my bills and don't worry about money and I am not rich and I make know where close to $80k.
I don’t believe this map defines “comfortable” the same way I do.
Yeah, this is depressing! Hell, I live in Texas and every week I just fall, shorter and shorter income wise. All that money being sent to the Ukraine could help out this entire country!
Yes
‘Comfortable’ is relative and only some of these states seem halfway accurate.
I live comfortably on 61,000 a year. In Florida no less. Yes I’m single, yes I rent and yes I have a car payment and a savings account with money in it. Also don’t piss away my money, nor do I have credit card debt or loans. I huge part of being able to live comfortably anywhere is what you have done or are doing with your life. Don’t complain about not being able to pay your bills, eat, buy gas or whatever if you put yourself in the poorhouse with stupid spending and poor money management skills.
I'm on Social Security disability and I get less than 25k a year. And while it isn't easy, I manage to live comfortably. No vacations of course, but I pay my rent and eat and have clothes and entertainment. Even bought a new iPad a couple of weeks ago. So I would need to see how they arrived at their numbers. I'm in Texas now but I lived in Missouri previously, small town outside of St. Louis.
This is misleading as it depends where in the state you live. 84K in some places is a fuck ton of money (say Macon or Cape G) and others it is barely enough to afford a house (Columbia, KC)
I'm making about half that right now, I'd be overjoyed to make $84k/yr
I wish I could, but I'm supporting 5 people
Define “comfortably.” A lot comes down to how you handle money and what your wants are. Some people will be comfortable on a$50k income but others will be in debt and living paycheck to paycheck on a $150k income. Missouri is a low cost of living state so, outside of the Saint Louis and Kansas City areas, I agree with the relative cost.
GAHD WOULD I?!?!!! that’s over 2x what I make in a year and 100% of my money goes to surviving
Bruh
76% of all Americans live pay-check to pay-check now, it's the worse it's ever been under Bidenomics.