The entire country has felt the pain of inflation since the pandemic, but how much do residents of Dallas-Fort Worth need to earn to live “comfortably”?
The travel advice website Upgraded Points says a single adult household in the metroplex needs to earn an annual pretax income of at least $107,061 to live “comfortably.” Among major U.S. cities, DFW ranks No. 26 in terms of the highest required salaries.
“American families are facing a convergence of economic pressures that are redefining what it means to live comfortably. After years of elevated inflation, the cost of essentials — from housing and groceries to transportation and health care — remains persistently high,” reads the recent study.
What if you live with a spouse, or, like many households, have kids? Here’s the amount you would require each year in Dallas-Fort Worth:
- Two Adults, No Kids: $137,978
- Two Adults, One Kid: $184,228
- Two Adults, Two Kids: $220,982
- Two Adults, Three Kids: $264,534
In DFW, the median personal income is $51,609, less than half the amount the report claims is needed for a “comfortable” life in a single-adult household. Zooming out state-wide, a single adult requires $96,506 in Texas.
Looking nationwide, a single-adult household with no children needs $106,745 per year for a “comfortable” existence.
San Jose, San Francisco, and San Diego top the chart, where a single adult requires roughly $163,045 annually. For a two-parent household with three children, that number surges to a lofty $478,630, according to the report.
At the other extreme, people need far less, with cities like Pittsburgh, Tucson, and Cleveland requiring less than $87,000 for a single adult with no kids to live “comfortably.”
To arrive at the figures, the report used the 50/30/20 budget rule, which allocates 50% of income to necessities, 30% to wants, and the rest to savings or debt repayment. This rule was applied to local cost-of-living data to calculate the required income for each area.