How Much Do You Spend On Rent?

I'm a 1st year analyst about to move out of his parents house in a high COL city (think LA, SF, NYC) and I was wondering what % of gross income people are paying in rent, particularly other analysts (but everyone else feel free to jump in). I'm aware that 30% is usually what you're supposed to keep it around, but a lot of times that's not really feasible in high COL cities.  For added effect, my salary is below average for my role and city but I have a 100% bonus structure, which places me above average in terms of total comp.  Would it not be that irresponsible for me to push my rent costs to 40-50% of my salary or am I missing something? Thanks in advance.

44 Comments
 

I pay approximately 4% of my gross income in rent in a high end building that is only 4 years old and less than 10 minutes from my office. 

Low COL cities for the win. 

Commercial Real Estate Developer
 

Bit of both, but living with your significant other (or roommates in general) is a massive boost 

Commercial Real Estate Developer
 

That’s how you save up money to take down your own deals. Congratulations! 

“The three most harmful addictions are heroin, carbohydrates, and a monthly salary.” - Nassim Taleb
 

I pay $2090 for a luxury building in a low COL city - 2 bed 2 bath

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 
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Its actually kind of crazy how fast that place shot up. I grew up not too far from there and remember a decade ago when it was basically a huge empty lot where some factories used to be (particularly the Ford Somerville Assembly, how it got its name). The only stuff that was there was that strip mall thing with the Home Depot, K-Mart etc. The development in Boston and the inner ring cities around it has been nuts. Same goes for Seaport. Seaport used to legit be a huge parking lot, with just the art museum and the Whiskey Priest and whatever restaurant was next to it. Then all of a sudden all the mid-rise apartment complexes and the Vertex Pharmaceuticals HQ came and that place fuckin erupted. The casino was the craziest. My friend worked on that project and said there was so much contaminated ground (brownfields) in that part of Everett/Medford that they needed to load the dirt on trains and ship it out to western MA and bring in new, cleaner dirt. But they still got that thing up and running kinda quickly.

Dayman?
 

Spend the base, bank the bonus. As long as you are able to comfortably cover all of your financial obligations every month with your base without running up credit card debt then you should be fine. In my experience spending more on where you live to have something a bit nicer goes a long way. I remember when I doubled my square footage and upgraded from a studio it made a world of difference of my mental well being.

 

I pay like 2150 out of a 90k base but it's my understanding that I am on the higher end. Its in the 40-50% range for me but my bonus is like 80% of salary so that makes it comfortable. Plus I'm ideally gonna get the A2A bump next year, which would obviously add a few racks to the take home. I just have the mindset that I worked hard over the past couple years, made good money, did a great job investing my earnings, so I deserve to live a little.

Dayman?
 

not to revive an old thread, but I am moving to a high COL east coast city soon. are you talking 40-50% of net pay?? cause the math doesnt really work for gross pay.

I'm able to get 3.5 months off on a 24 month lease... comes out to about $2,200 a month on a 90k base salary. 1br 1ba 760sq ft. not too bad imo.

Go all the way
 

PE associate, not IB, but would imagine most fall in the ~$3k range for a nice 1 bed room

I was around $3,100 in my Associate years and it seemed like most of my class at the time was spending about the same. The ones who were well below that either still had roommates or were splitting rent with their SO. Unfortunately if you’re single and want you’re own place, you need to pay up in NY

 

I hear banjo music

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

philbegas

 I just got my affordable dream car and I am not gonna street park it.

M3, M4, GTR?

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

I live in Century City (Los Angeles). I’d love to move somewhere cheaper and with less traffic, hopefully I can work fully remote. 
 

My wife and I make collectively $305k pre tax and spend $2,900 a month on rent. So 11.4% of our income. I think I’ve grown sick of LA and want to move to OC, hopefully soon

“The three most harmful addictions are heroin, carbohydrates, and a monthly salary.” - Nassim Taleb
 

Malta

I live in Century City (Los Angeles). I'd love to move somewhere cheaper and with less traffic, hopefully I can work fully remote. 
 

My wife and I make collectively $305k pre tax and spend $2,900 a month on rent. So 11.4% of our income. I think I've grown sick of LA and want to move to OC, hopefully soon

My sister lives in OC in San Clemente. She and her husband just bought a house and seemed like a pretty good deal there. OC seems super chill and the traffic isn't as horrific as LA.

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

I love that South OC area. I can buy a townhouse down there near Aliso Viejo for less monthly expense than my rent. It’s crazy. It’s beautiful and there’s far less traffic. I used to work down in Irvine

“The three most harmful addictions are heroin, carbohydrates, and a monthly salary.” - Nassim Taleb
 

Am about to join a company in Century City area, don't know anyone so was planning on living alone. Is it feasible to get a 1 Bed in the 1600-1800 range in Sawtelle, SM, Westwood, BH etc. I have an expected base of 85 plus 30-40 bonus. 

Any reccomendations on where I should live/what I should look at as a post grad and if zillow is good enough to get a spot

 

Zillow + Apartments.com would be your best bets. 
 

That sounds like a tough budget to work with. $1,800 sounds like it might be doable but probably slim pickings. Up to $2k opens up lots more options. Living out here is just expensive which sucks. 
 

I found this on Zillow: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/132-S-Swall-Dr-3-Los-Angeles-CA-9004…

Absolutely love this neighborhood. I used to live a block over and it was nice to walk around/ run in the AM
 

edit: Also make sure it has AC! That’s a must, summers get really hot. 

“The three most harmful addictions are heroin, carbohydrates, and a monthly salary.” - Nassim Taleb
 

Previously lived in the South, paid $2k with a roommate for a 2/2 ($1k each) in a mid-tier building in a fun part of town. Income of $175k (think my roommate was in the $120k range), so both had tons of savings. Now in NYC, live with SO and pay $3.8k total for large 1/1 + den. Income's up to $300k now ($400k combined), and I pay $2.2k of the rent. 

Rent went from 7% of gross / 9% of net to 9% of gross / 15% of net, but that's partially me upgrading to a nicer building and taking on over 50% of rent. At any rate my annual savings are up 40% so I'm glad I made the move to a HCOL market (even though comp's up 70%...). Eventually may try to move back down and keep as much of the comp as possible, but that's at least a few years off

 

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"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

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"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee

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