Budgeting Your Move to Boston
Most first-time Bostonians choose to share short-term leases with friends or roommates. This is ideal for those on a budget, since rent and utilities are divided among how many people live there, lightening those financial loads. If you are planning to move to Boston and live on your own, you should be making around $80,000, based on Nestpick’s latest data on Boston apartments.
That’s about $6,500 a month being spent on renting a one-bedroom apartment, which is the 30% recommended by economists. It’s important to keep these statistics in mind when establishing your own budget. Remember, spending about a quarter of your income on housing is the recommendation.
In reality, many Americans do not follow this out of necessity. Paying more than this recommendation is not a choice anyone would want to make willingly. The average salary in the United States is $44,000. Americans living in Boston on that salary sometimes struggle to find excellent housing.
How much do people in Boston earn?
Bostonians, on average, earn around $3,700 a month, half of which they use to pay housing and other living fees. The average Bostonian also has at least one roommate they share expenses with.
Boston is the third most expensive city. That was shown in a survey, comparing the average expenses for a one-bedroom apartment in 14 different American cities. San Francisco and New York City came before Boston. Washington D.C. took the fourth place spot after Boston. Las Vegas had the most apartment housing. Residents there only had to earn around $33,000 a year to afford a one-bedroom apartment.
There are so many cities in this country with their own unique real estate market, so don’t feel discouraged if you’re struggling to find affordable housing in Boston. To be on the best track for retirement, we recommend you only spend around a third of your monthly salary on living expenses.
Personal finances
Below are a list of statistics to orient your own personal finances when planning your relocation to Boston:
- Living alone will cost you about $1,350 a month ($48,000 a year)
- Living alone in a more expensive neighborhood will cost you $1,750 per month ($63,000 a year)
- If you want to live in a luxurious apartment without roommates, be prepared to pay at least $2,200 a month ($79,800 a year)
- If you don’t have a family and live with roommates, it will cost you around $850 a month ($30,000 a year)
- Living in a more sought-after area and sharing the rent with roommates would cost you $1,100 a month ($39,000 a year)
- For a family of four, a three-bedroom property costs about $2,550 a month ($91,800 a year)
- For the same household, living in a more expensive neighborhood would cost about $3,300 a month
- Buying an apartment in Boston would look something like this: $350,000 to $68,000 a year with an initial installment of $70,000
- To buy an apartment: $550,000 to $108,000 a year with an installment of $110,000
- To buy a home just outside the city: $750,000 to $1,440,000, with an advance payment of $150,000
