Cost of living in USA!

I was just wondering how much would be the cost of living in USA for 2 persons (husband+wife)?. By cost of living I mean basic necessities like food + cloths + shelter + transport + medical etc.

Do not consider luxury expenses. I can understand it might vary in different estates.

Please provide some useful information. Thanks.

You need to be a bit more specific regarding the area of the US in which you want to live.

Around where I live, it can vary greatly... I know that a lot of apartments in our area, are around $900/mo.

It is hard to exact put a figure on it, as even in my small area alone (Southern California), a one bedroom apartment could go from $600-$2,500 depending on exactly where you rent.

Food: $100-$200/mo at least.

Clothing here ranges from $20-$35 for a pair of jeans and shirts from about $15 (subtract $5 for simple shirts from a discount chain, add about $10-$20 for better stuff, on up).

Transportation: You can find cars for sale from about $3,000 for something decent used, of course more for newer, better models. Depends on the area for mass transit, bus, subway, etc.

Medical plan will run you about $250/mo-ish, however you may be able to get benefits with employment (depends on job, etc.). Our teacher's medical plan is really good and it costs us nothing for the birth of our son.

You have to give us a better idea of how you currently live, the type of area, the type of car you drive, clothese you wear, etc., and maybe we can give you some vague ballpark figures. If you want to know how much a pair a jeans cost, we can roughly give that to you. 'Clothing' however is a bit too out there. Even jeans vary so widely, depending on brand and where you shop. You can buy the same pair of Dockers dress pants at a fancy department store for about $35-ish, however I just saw that Costco had piles of them for $15 each.

We live in Northern California. Rent for a 2-bedroom apartment in a nice area is about $950/month. Most areas around here are about that, except in bad drug areas of Sacramento, because people are moving up here from the Bay area and commuting, so apartment complex owners are raising prices knowing that the people from down there can afford it and are use to paying high prices.

We spent about $75 a week on groceries, so per month would be $300.

Gas is currently $1.55 at the Chevron we go to and both my fiancé and I use about $20 each time we fill up, for him that's once a week and for me it's every other week, so I spend $40 in gas a month and he spends $80, totalling $120/month in gas.

Health insurance is nothing for my son and I, we're on my dad's company insurance, my fiancé pays my dad about $150/month to be on it as well.

Clothing and other things is not very expensive at all, I personally hate shopping and my fiancé goes rarely, so the only clothing purchases go to my son, really. So I'll say $100/month there.

Extras (recreational things, like renting movies or going out to eat) we probably spend $100/month on that, sometimes more or less.

My fiancé's car payment is $200/month.

DSL, Cable, and utilities are no more than $150/month but I don't take care of that so not 100% sure.

Totalling: $2070/month

Well here's what I figure:

Food: about $200
Clothing: $30 a month
Cars: Lease them: $99-$500. Buying $1700 for a used car.
Insurence around $100 to $200 a month.
Houses: to Rent from $200 to $800 a month. Not sure about buying a house.

Internet Access: $49.99 for DSL, $9.95 for 56k.
Phones: About $40 a month
Water, Electric, Gas: $300-400 a month.

WOW, you peopl elive a lot cheaper then here in Greece and also make 5-10times more money :eek2:

Lets see, I live on the border of NYC....

Car payment $200/month
Car insurance: $400/month
Food: $300/month
Rent (2 bedroom apartment): $1300-$2000+ in a half decent neighborhood
Utilities: $100-$150
10 megabit internet access: $40
If you must pay for medical coverage out of pocket its roughly $390 for a married couple

Cost of living for one month: $2930

Not including gas, clothes, etc etc.

I live in kahoka mo

Car payment $125.00/month
Car insurance: $75/month
Food: $175 - 300 /month
Rent (2 bedroom apartment): $300-425 in a nice neighborhood
Utilities: $65-$145
DSL $40.00 a month
Gas = $25.00
Clothing = $60.00 month

Originally posted by mahinder
Cost of living in USA!

I was just wondering how much would be the cost of living in USA for 2 persons (husband+wife)?. By cost of living I mean basic necessities like food + cloths + shelter + transport + medical etc.

Do not consider luxury expenses. I can understand it might vary in different estates.

Please provide some useful information. Thanks.

Cost per what? Month? Year?

I live in kahoka mo

Car payment $125.00/month
Car insurance: $75/month
Food: $175 - 300 /month
Rent (2 bedroom apartment): $300-425 in a nice neighborhood
Utilities: $65-$145
DSL $40.00 a month
Gas = $25.00
Clothing = $60.00 month


I live in southern NH:

car payment: $500/mo
Car Ins: $200/mo
Food: $300/mo
Rent: $855/mo (cheap for a 2 bedroom)
Utilities $250-$350 (electric/phone/cable/internet/cell phone is the extra 100)
Gas $90 (40mi commute each way daily)
Clothing $0 ( I don't buy clothes that much)

Anyway the short of it is that I live in southern NH and that is pretty much the same as mass...
Sadistikal

Car payment $200/month
Car insurance: $400/month


Someone is a bad driver hehe :D

Someone is a bad driver hehe
Or they could just have a very nice car.

Well you didn't specify it was monthly in the poll.
The average rent in MI for two people is $600 to $1200 for a decent neighborhood.
A decent 2 or 3 BR house in a decent nieghborhood is around $120,000 which would give you a payment of around $1,400 including insurance and taxes.
Cars are around $450 to $550 for a new $25,000 one, depending on intrest rate and incentives.
Insurance rates (if you have a good driving record) very by city. Lower crime areas being around $100 per month, and from what I hear, $300 per month if you live in Detroit. Triple that, if you have a crappy driving record, or a forein sports car.
The bigger cites have cheaper groceries because of competition, plus the distributors charge the bigger stores less. I've seen small store owners actualy buy some products from the bigger ones to resell. But it is easy to say that your grocery bill would be $250 to $300 per month. It can be less if you don't indulge in soda and junk food.
Cigarettes here are taxed at the second highest rate in the nation ($1.25), so a pack of Marlboros will cost you around $5.
I don't know what average people spend for gas, ($1.60 gallon) because I fill my tank at least twice a week.
Utilities:
Natural gas $30 in summer, and $150 in winter.
Electricity $50 in summer and $150 in winter.
Phone with features $60
Cable internet connection $50
or
Dialup internet connection $20
Cell phones are very competative, and you can get about 400 to 600 regular minutes, plus unlimited weekends with no long distance charges for around $50.
Home owners or renters insurance about $200 to $300 a year.

Wow! Now that I look at it all, I don't know whether to feel rich or poor.

Originally posted by NocSol
WOW, you peopl elive a lot cheaper then here in Greece and also make 5-10times more money :eek2:

So you make less money but live more expensive then we do? Something doesn't add right here.

If you want good prices for a house, don't come to the UK. Prices in my neighbourhood are going up by £3000 a day. House prices are through the roof at the moment, its just madness.

Well...since I'm probably in the second cheapest place to live in the US (I think Montana is a hair cheaper), these will probably bowl you over (also remember I pinch pennies until they squeak)....

In Cedar Falls Iowa, this is about the extent of things:

Rent: $150 (a house with 3 other people)
Food: 30-40 per month for groceries, about 100-200 if I eat out all the time
Insurance: $200 (car and renters)
Paying back student loans ($106 per month)

Total is about 400 or so a month. Then all the extraneous stuff like gas, beer, computer toys, ad infintium vary quite a bit.

Yes, Iowa is very cheap.

if you dont have money for live in usa, you can live in mexico for 100-200/mo

alot mexicans live with 5usd/day or less

Or they could just have a very nice car.

Thats why I quoted the monthly payment of the car. I don't know many people that pay 200/mo for a car and 400/mo for insurance that are driving a porche :D

Originally posted by ATST
Well you didn't specify it was monthly in the poll.

:eek:

Of course it's a monthly poll. Not in very many areas can anyone live YEARLY off of the figures in his poll. And bills aren't paid weekly... I would say it's quite obvious that's what he was looking for.

I should be more accurate. First off, the loan is a 2 year loan, not a 4 or 5, which is why the payments are up there.

Secondly these numbers

Car payment $200/month
Car insurance: $400/month

Are for a 1996 Civic. The reason my insurance is so high is becuase I live in a high crime area (its not the Soth Bronx, but it sint the Hamptons either) and I am a young driver (only 19).

But that is still no reason that all this should be that expensive too:

Food: $300/month
Rent (2 bedroom apartment): $1300-$2000+ in a half decent neighborhood
Utilities: $100-$150
10 megabit internet access: $40
If you must pay for medical coverage out of pocket its roughly $390 for a married couple

Cost of living for one month: $2930

Damn NY! :D

10 megabit internet access: $40

If I didn't have two kids I'd trade a low-crime area for a high-crime area and that connection :D

Originally posted by benoire
If you want good prices for a house, don't come to the UK. Prices in my neighbourhood are going up by £3000 a day. House prices are through the roof at the moment, its just madness.

That's why real estate is the best investment.

Originally posted by Acronym BOY
Car payment $200/month
Car insurance: $400/month


Wow, that's something for car insurance considering your car can't be a jaguar or something. How many speeding tickets do you have now? :)

thanks guys. I intended poll for monthly figures.

Looks like in U.S. except real estate everything else costs fare. Internet connections are extremely cheap. I searched yahoo for tax rates and they look pretty fare.

you people are awesome :)

OT: Car insurance is very expensive in NY, especially if you are a young/inexperienced driver. You can forget about driving an expensive car here unless you have really deep pockets. If you buy full coverage on lets say a $35,000 car, your policy won't be less than $2500/$3000/year, and that's only if you are an experienced driver. If you are from 17-21(24), it will cost around $5000-7000/year for full coverage on a 35k car.

Originally posted by Acronym BOY

If you must pay for medical coverage out of pocket its roughly $390 for a married couple

Cheaper than Florida: $500 for out of pocket.

Originally posted by Bogdan
OT: Car insurance is very expensive in NY, especially if you are a young/inexperienced driver. You can forget about driving an expensive car here unless you have really deep pockets. If you buy full coverage on lets say a $35,000 car, your policy won't be less than $2500/$3000/year, and that's only if you are an experienced driver. If you are from 17-21(24), it will cost around $5000-7000/year for full coverage on a 35k car.

Who needs a $35k car?
With ~ $16k you get the best car: Toyota Corolla "S".
http://www.toyota.com/html/shop/vehicles/corolla/index.html

Originally posted by timechange

Originally posted by Acronym BOY

If you must pay for medical coverage out of pocket its roughly $390 for a married couple

Cheaper than Florida: $500 for out of pocket.


What is covered in medical insurance?

How much a normal doctor consultation cost?

for example you have malarial fever or something like that which needs doctor overview. Is this covered in medical insurance?

Yes, that's covered in medical insurance.

Sarasota, Florida

Rent: $585 (there are higher priced ones here in town)
Gas: $1.39/gallon
Car Insurance: $100/month -- and that's a classic car (paid a year in advance though)
Electric: $80/month (computer on at least 15 hours of the day -- and Air Conditioning on most of the day)
Water: $35/month
Phone: $110 (local/long distance -- and $60 of that is the DSL bill)

For us, food $$ varies from month to month. We only eat out every once and a while -- nothing fancy.

But we have to buy diapers (I have a 2 1/2 year old son).

We survive on $1500/month -- give or take a few 100 or so if my business is good.

Northwest Arkansas (Fayetteville Area)
Fayetteville pop is aprox 75,000, Home of U of A. Springdale, Rogers, Bentonville combined pop aprox 175,000 more. All 4 towns have all but grown together. 1.9% unemployment, one of the lowest in the nation.

Rent: 2 bedroom house, small, but nice. $450.00
Elec: $85
Water: $30
Phone & 2 cell phones: $150<
Groceries: $300 per month with 2 children
Gas: Currently $1.27 per gallon
Diesel: $1.25 per gallon
Auto insurance on a 2001 Dodge 3500 truck and a 2000 S-10: $140 per month.
Medical: Free with wife's job; $20 co-pay/$5 prescriptions
Average factory jobs range from $10 to $18 per hour. Not sure about others.

The mid-west and central U.S. seems to be cheaper than most other places. Lived in Missoula, MT, Casper, WY and Shreveport, LA...Arkansas seems less expensive than any of them. Or maybe it's just the better jobs. Much more to do also if you like outdoor things.

I'm completely blown away by some the costs some of you are paying! Where I live is *cheap* ...or at least thats what I THOUGHT until I've seen these costs....I wonder if someone in those areas is paying good $$ for a good UNIX admin so I can make the same $$ and pay out that kind of dough! hehe
Sadistikal

:eek: Husband, and I ---- PER MONTH

Rent (2-bedroom apartment-nice side of town) -695.00

Food approx 200

Car payment-(Saturn sports car) 307.00

Insurance (woman with lead foot 3Xspeeding ticket) 150.00

Medical insurance- (through police government job) 265.00 best plan

Dental insurance-approx 40.00 best plan offered through same job

Electric,phone,DSL,garbage,water- approx 300.00

West coast- Middle of nowhere montana......(Missoula)
FYI... Montana is probably the worst for living wage. Just moved from Texas.. (Approx same in bills) but we made 3x what we make here...Same type of jobs too... Kind of sucks! But its pretty.. lol...

I lived in MN for a while, I believe the further east you go the more $$$ it is... But the more $$ you make too... Portland OR and Washington, I HEAR, are getting pretty bad about living wage as well...


Ooops forgot about gas: currently 1.57 a gallon for the high grade. Dont know about low...Hasnt moved a penny in a few months...

Here in Rochester NY here was what I was paying where I just moved out of:

$295/month rent of a studio apartment (incl water, gas, elec)
$21/month phone
$40/month cable internet (1.5mbps down, 384k up)
$40/month cable tv (digital with premium channel package)
$150/month car insurance for two cars
$200/month food

Gas - about $1.50/gal (goes up and down a lot)
Sales tax - 8%, clothing tax is 4%

Names you might recognize from Rochester (because nobody knows where it is): Kodak, Xerox, Baush & Lomb, Paychex, Jello (from the region), about an hour east of Niagara Falls, that will maybe help someone figure out where it is:)

Yeah, isn't nicknamed "Coldchester"? :)

Welcome to New York City...

$1000 - 2 bedroom apartment in Brooklyn

$125 - Cable (both tv and internet)

$65 - Phone

$55 - Electricity ($75 with AC)

$20 - Gas

$300 - food (for both me and my girlfriend)

$150 - Car insurance

$1.75 gallon for gas

10 megabit internet access: $40

WHERE??? I want!!!

I am currently living in Cherry Hill, NJ(on a poorer side of town, yet still quite expensive). I am moving to Camden City New Jersey, where they practically pay you to move there, its a very dangerous place to live outside center city, highest murder rate in the country, second poorest city in the country, yet center city is safe, and affordable because nobody wants to live here. Also, right accross the river from philadelphia!

Apartment - 3 Bedrooms, 2 Full Bathrooms $500/month (Center City). Complex was built in 1997. Utilities included.

Internet Access - 3.5 Megabit $99/month comcast professional cable modem(very important)

Cable - $50 a month, with some premium channels.

Food - $300 month for two people.

Car Insurance - $200 for two cars.

Birth Control - Covered By Insurance.

Clothing - $150 a month(Not much of a buyer)

Misc - $250.

Total Monthly - roughly $1450. Right now im paying $1000 for rent, nothing included.

Originally posted by timechange
Yeah, isn't nicknamed "Coldchester"? :)

LOL, Shut up! Yeah the weather here is less than desirable. Yesterday was beautiful, hot and sunny but today is already starting out nasty, rainy and blah. Oh well, I plan on moving to Las Vegas in the next 6 months anyways:)

I'm also considering moving to the US from the UK in around a years time.

So its gonna cost around about $1000 - $1500/mo ?

$1000 - 2 bedroom apartment in Brooklyn

Thats pretty cheap for NYC. My g/f's sister was living in manhattan and paying $3000/mo for a 2 bedroom.... and it wasn't anything very special. Too expensive for me but her b/f was an investment banker.

Originally posted by sadistikal


Thats pretty cheap for NYC. My g/f's sister was living in manhattan and paying $3000/mo for a 2 bedroom.... and it wasn't anything very special. Too expensive for me but her b/f was an investment banker.

Yeah, I know...it's a kickass apartment too. It took us months to find the right place, but we hit it at the right time (just when landlords were starting to panic because nobody was paying their inflated rents...) People still are not paying what they would have paid before the world blew up. All I can say is Amen to that...at least it brought prices down somewhere close to earth in some areas.

We're in Bay Ridge and the con job the real estate agents were trying to pull to get people to pay ridiculous rents (1700 a month for a 2 room apt on the 6th floor of a walkup) were hillarious. They also seemed to be under the impression that being an hour's train ride from Manhattan means you're 'right there'...I'll never understand that. I guess I'll also never understand how a dead end street suddenly becomes a 'cul de sac' the moment someone's renting a house on it...:p

Manhattan --- 2-room apartment for around $5000/mo :eek2:
but of course you also get paid a lot more in NY.

When I was in Chicago we had a nice place on LaSalle at $2000/mo :)

Originally posted by lightnin
WHERE??? I want!!!

OOL.

Here is why too, look at their links compared to the big guys like AOL/TW:

http://zinc.netwave.com/photos/NetWaveMap.gif

They are the only place around here sitting on a GigE