You are all nuts our HHI is $110 in close in bethesda in a nice house and live perfectly fine on that.

There was a WaPo article on this a year or so ago. If you are doing everything a financial advisor suggests that you do--max out retirement, fund a safety net, contribute to college--while having two kids in federal day care and certain upper-middle class luxuries like a bi-weekly housekeeper, you need upwards of $200K.

We have a HHI of $150K and things are okay, although childcare for two is killing us right now and we're not saving much. No fancy vacations, limited eating out, etc. but all in all we have a good life and can pay all our bills. I wish we made a bit more so I could do things like sign up for a county rec class without worrying about the $80 fee, but I bet I would still feel that way about things even if we made slightly more.

Anonymous wrote:I don't mean live lavishly, just be able for afford expenses, pay mortgage, etc.

It depends. Do you already own a house? We bought in 1997, so our costs are much less than others.

Are you foodies?

DC can be very cheap to live in the first few years. There are tons of free things to do, but they fade as the years go by. I mean how many times can you look at the same dinosaur bones or Apollo space craft?

How long will you be staying? Do schools matter? Generally the better schools are in the more expensive neighborhoods.

Are you willing to wash your clothes and iron and not use dry cleaners?

Are you generally frugal people or do you tend to spend more?

I am single and make under 50k. Student loan debt = 20k. It's hard but not impossible.

$110 is the magic # if you have no debt, I recall reading about DC.

Trust me, DCUM is not the best place to ask this question. Most of the people on here think you're poor if you make less than $100k. And that isn't true.

Not too long ago, I was living in D.C. on less than $50k a year, and I still managed to travel. I had a 1-bedroom apartment, an affordable, small car, and I didn't spend money on ridiculous things (like getting my hair colored every month, or manicures, or maids, et cetera).

Anonymous wrote:Family of four, public school: 200K. More would be better, but this would give you enough if you have middle-of-the road spending habits to have a reasonably sized house/townhouse, a reasonable commute, and not to be counting every penny if you do things like eat out occasionally or go on a domestic vacation once a year.

+1 this is our life hHHI of $210, 3 bedroom sfh in nova 25 min commute to DC office, 2 toddlers full time childcare, max out 401k, $500 each per month into 529 still room for savings and one good vacation a year. Besides the mortgage, our debt is minimal ($5k left on a car). So a lot depends on your existing debt.

1 million dollars

Family of four, public school: 200K. More would be better, but this would give you enough if you have middle-of-the road spending habits to have a reasonably sized house/townhouse, a reasonable commute, and not to be counting every penny if you do things like eat out occasionally or go on a domestic vacation once a year.

with 1 toddler

We make $150 HHI. I think we're doing fine, altho I would like maybe another 10K a year. But we think we're doing OK.

In DC itself? $200K.

With or without kids?

I don't mean live lavishly, just be able for afford expenses, pay mortgage, etc.