Rent in LCOL City

I think going off base is better

In an actual LCOL city $1,650 should get you a great apartment and $3k will get you an extravagant one. 
 

Don’t see why you feel the need to do this unless you consider a city like Washington DC LCOL just because it’s cheaper than NYC.

In a very similar situation, it should be based on your base. Assuming your talking about Texas, Atlanta, Charlotte, or Florida you will be living very very nicely on $1600 and you will still be saving good chunk because of lower taxes

30% is an average you will see thrown around but honestly, if you are a single guy in your early 20's who is just getting into the workforce, paying 30% in a LCOL city is a lot in my opinion (especially on an IB salary). 30% might be more appropriate once you have a family and a couple kids and need to throw some real cash towards mortgage on a property, but right now?? 

Perception on WSO is skewed because people here generally get paid very well, but throwing 1500+ on rent is a lot. 1650 can probably get you a pretty sweet place in your area given LCOL, but do you really want to throw a 1/3rd of your hard-earned money on a place to sleep every day? That's just my opinion tho and I am likely more frugal than you. I also come from a mid-low income family and the thought of throwing $1600+ on rent is scary... thats like almost 2 mortgages on starter homes in my area. For reference I spent $900 on rent on a 1 bedroom in a LCOL area. Its kind of a crappy apartment but it did just fine for my first two years in IB, and now I can upgrade a little and not feel bad knowing that I was able to save up some nice cash by paying ~15% base on rent.

At the end of the day its all about your money goals and what you feel comfortable doing. Being able to have much cheaper rent in a LCOL area may actually even give you a pretty good advantage on saving compared to your NYC counterparts all things considered...

I spent $1700/month on rent during my analyst years and now I’ve got nearly $300k saved up at 26. I don’t miss the extra $400 / month I could’ve saved.
 

You have to pick your battles. I saved in other ways (cooking breakfast, meal prepping lunches, I don’t drink heavily). I still agree $2k is excessive for LCOL

Just locked down an apartment in a LCOL city. I think the best thing I did was find a roommate. Brought down my costs dramatically and now with ~1100/month each we’re able to get a 2b2b in the nicest apartment building downtown. Comparable 1b apartments were about ~1500. Was also a beneficiary of some great rent specials so that helped. Without, it would’ve been about ~1350 each, or 1800 for the 1b.

thinking of daddy's salary as a reference point is gonna be a mental roadblock for ya champ

In a LCOL city you should be able to get a nice place for ~$1000 - $1400 depending on the city. I would recommend optimizing for short commute + convenience as much as possible. Definitely worth paying more if needed as it shaves a lot of time down. Try to get as close as possible to gym+grocery store. Guessing you'll be getting murdered on raw work hours, so saving commute time is critical and difference between being able to eat clean/inexpensively and go to the gym so you don't deteriorate.

Absolutely no reason to overspend if you can get a decent place for <30% of your base.  I've spent my career in LCOL/MCOL markets and never spent more than like 10% on rent (currently spend 8% in my 30s splitting a modest place in a great location with my wife).  Use the rest to max your IRA contributions and have fun nights out without worrying about breaking your budget.  Living in a luxury building is overrated and having roommates in your early 20s is more fun anyway.  You don't want to be that guy that overspends on rent and then can't afford to go on a bachelor party or meticulously sends venmo charges for every little thing you do with friends etc.

You will get a good place for that amount of money, will be in a good part of town and will be nice and new, or large and older. If you're straight out of school, you could always go for a real small place in a fun part of town and save an extra few hundred a month and either invest it or live the life.

Having a roommate in a 2 bedroom will save you a ton too which is something to consider.

One thing nobody has mentioned here that I’ve been told by others is that in the super nice apartments (ex. $2500 for 1BR) your floormates will be middle managers rather than the fresh college grads that you probably want to be hanging out with. Not saying to rent a shack lol but keep this in mind if you go too pricey. Use the extra savings for something else that you enjoy.