Seeing so many of these insane salaries on here had me feeling like I chose the wrong degree in high school, but then this calculator showed me just how inflated your incomes are due to the area. I know this calculator isn’t 100% accurate, but it at least has an idea. https://www.bankrate.com/calculators/savings/moving-cost-of-living-calculator.aspx
My TC is 600K. I can easily buy a median home in my area with a 5 year mortgage *and* still have 600K a year afterwards. Yet, I’m a fairly average guy in my team. Our comp *is* insanely high, regardless of location.
These calculators assume you're living paycheck to paycheck at both ends. It says the my salary is equivalent to an amount in Texas that's less than how much I save and invest every year after taxes.
I mean, depending on where you live in Texas, that could be true....Have you ever watched Fixer Upper on HGTV? Lol
100k purchase price with 250k reno budget in Waco. The town, except for the farm and the bakery, was basically empty when I visited last year.
Salaries are a bit inflated but the biggest reason is housing. Outside of that the people in a hcol will have a far larger disposal income than ones in a lcol. There are exceptions to this (remote workers, rare high paying company, etc)
I guess I would consider Atlanta a medium cost of living area? Depending on where you try to live outside of Atlanta, the schools can be terrible or amazing (just like any city). But living in the best school zones is still not as insane as cities like the Bay Area. Although newer construction homes in the best school zones start at ridiculous prices ($500k-1 mil). But it isn’t uncommon for someone in my position (analyst) to make it to manager in 2-4 years and go from high 60s TC to high 90s- low 100s which I believe is more than enough for a dual income household in the metro Atlanta area.
I guess it depends? Even in Atlanta, there are houses and condos in Buckhead which are million + Then there are same size units in College Park etc which are a bargain. I'm sure similar is true in most places. Downtown living in Atlanta is probably the cheapest I am aware of. In that aspect, it is excellent COL.
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I moved from a cheap area to a high cost of living area. My rent about doubled but so did my pay. Everything else is about the same.
I grew up in a much smaller low cost of living city, so I never thought of Atlanta as being “cheap”. Hearing about all these $200k+ salaries had me second guessing how much I’m making, but this calculator made me feel better. My mortgage is super cheap and I live about 30 minutes outside of the city/ THD, so my cost of living is even lower than those who live in the city. I love metro Atlanta. I would consider it one of the best deals in the country.