How do people survive in California off of a $22K/year salary?

Bunch of roomates.

$22K is plenty money for a single person. If you struggle with "four times that amount", then yoh have some seriously poor money management skills.

I'm in college and live off of 7k a year. A cursory google search reveals that the cost of living where I am is between 5% above and 5% below the national average. California likely has a higher cost of living than where i am but even then 22k a year is a lot of money and it would easily be enough to make ends meet and then some.

California is for gay/tranny democrats.

Cubism Cubed wrote:

I'm in college and live off of 7k a year. A cursory google search reveals that the cost of living where I am is between 5% above and 5% below the national average. California likely has a higher cost of living than where i am but even then 22k a year is a lot of money and it would easily be enough to make ends meet and then some.

Me too. I recently completed grad school in a technical field at a prestigious university and I am living off of $421.66 a year.

A cursory google search reveals that the cost of living where I am is between 15% and 25% above the national average. 22k a year is a LOT of money and it should be incredibly easy to live off that and save well over half of it.

Me Two wrote:

Me too. I recently completed grad school in a technical field at a prestigious university and I am living off of $421.66 a year.

You should be ashamed of yourself.

Cubism Cubed wrote:

I'm in college and live off of 7k a year. A cursory google search reveals that the cost of living where I am is between 5% above and 5% below the national average. California likely has a higher cost of living than where i am but even then 22k a year is a lot of money and it would easily be enough to make ends meet and then some.

22k is around $1500/month after taxes. The average single bedroom apartment runs you around $2200/month in LA:

Split costs with a roommate, and you're left with $400/month for food, gas, car payments, clothes, some utilities, etc. How the hell is that possible?

They are avocado-on-toast intolerant

ObjectiveThinker wrote:

California is for gay/tranny democrats.

They need to survive too.

Me Two wrote:

I am living off of $421.66 a year.

You probably meant $421/month. Even with that, you'd have to live in a completely paid off shack in the middle of nowhere.

rent's too damn high wrote:

22k is around $1500/month after taxes. The average single bedroom apartment runs you around $2200/month in LA:

That's counting all the "gentrified" (aka white) neighborhoods. Most of California is not "gentrified."

low on cash wrote:

ObjectiveThinker wrote:

California is for gay/tranny democrats.

They need to survive too.

Me Two wrote:

I am living off of $421.66 a year.

You probably meant $421/month. Even with that, you'd have to live in a completely paid off shack in the middle of nowhere.

I think he meant per week.

red pill giver wrote:

rent's too damn high wrote:

22k is around $1500/month after taxes. The average single bedroom apartment runs you around $2200/month in LA:

That's counting all the "gentrified" (aka white) neighborhoods. Most of California is not "gentrified."

Not all of Cali lives in the Bay area and LA. There's more to the state than those two high COL regions...

If you're in IT, which in my opinion would be the only logical reason to move from a lower COL area to the Bay Area, you're not making 22K/yr...unless you moved there to become a janitor in an IT company's headquarters...

$100 K/yr is probably about average for a Bay Area software engineer. May still be a good idea to get a roommate though unless you want a 1 hour or longer commute to work every morning..1 hour on a good day...Anything close to the epicenter of Silicon Valley will consume a ton of your money.

$100K after taxes leaves about 70 to 75K/yr.

Divide tht up and you have about $5800/month to live on. You could afford a single bedroom apartment in the $2200 range and still have enough left over to live comfortably.

If you're not moving there for an IT job, it makes no sense to move there.

Cubism Cubed wrote:

I'm in college and live off of 7k a year.

You don't have to pay for your commute if you're only a full-time student or have a job on campus. That's money not spent on car payments, car maintenance, gas, bus tickets, uber, etc. Food, classes, and entertainment are just a short bike ride away.

Your dorms, utilities and meal plans are subsidized and are much cheaper than what they would cost on the open market.

Student health insurance is also cheaper than what non-students would pay. If all else fails, you can remain on your parent's insurance until you're 26.

The equivalent lifestyle for a non-student would probably be around $25K in an area with an average cost of living. You can double or triple that cost if you live in SF, LA, or NY.

If your job allows telecommuting, just work out of a remote cabin that's not too remote that Wi-Fi signals can't reach it.

You're saving on everything.

Something like 30% of the state is on Medicaid (Medical) which pays for all healthcare.

markschultz25 wrote:

Not all of Cali lives in the Bay area and LA. There's more to the state than those two high COL regions...

LA County itself has 10 million people. This excludes pricey Silicon Valley (obviously), but also the equally expensive neighboring regions like Orange County and San Diego.

Geographically, there's a lot of places in CA that aren't that expensive. Places like Bakersfield, Fresno, and anything between Victorville and Vegas. But most Californians live in the pricey areas.

Why would you live in downtown LA? There's much cheaper options in LA county and surrounding areas. Coming from a SoCal native 22K/yr is livable.

Tojo wrote:

low on cash wrote:

They need to survive too.

You probably meant $421/month. Even with that, you'd have to live in a completely paid off shack in the middle of nowhere.

I think he meant per week.

I think he meant per day.

Mr moneybags wrote:

Tojo wrote:

I think he meant per week.

I think he meant per day.

I think he meant per hour.

Jdiej wrote:

Bunch of roomates.

$22K is plenty money for a single person. If you struggle with "four times that amount", then yoh have some seriously poor money management skills.

$22K may be enough to get by on, but what about saving for a down payment on a home, saving for retirement, having a family, taking vacations, etc.? Who wants to live by just skimping by and living with a bunch of roommates?