This Is The Salary Needed To Live Comfortably In US Cities How much do you need to earn to live comfortably in a major American city? Increasingly, the answer is a six-figure salary. This map, via Visual Capitalist's Bruno Venditti, shows the income required for a comfortable lifestyle across 56 U.S. cities, factoring in housing, food, transportation, savings, and discretionary spending. The data ...
This Is The Salary Needed To Live Comfortably In US Cities How much do you need to earn to live comfortably in a major American city? Increasingly, the answer is a six-figure salary. This map, via Visual Capitalist's Bruno Venditti, shows the income required for a comfortable lifestyle across 56 U.S. cities, factoring in housing, food, transportation, savings, and discretionary spending. The data comes from SmartAsset , using the MIT Living Wage Calculator and updated in February 2026. The Highest-Cost Cities Now Require Nearly $160K New York tops the list at $158,954, narrowly ahead of San Jose at $158,080. California accounts for many of the highest-cost cities overall, with Irvine, San Diego, San Francisco, Oakland, Los Angeles, and Sacramento all ranking near the top. Rank City Salary to live comfortably 1 New York, NY $158,954 2 San Jose, CA $158,080 3 Irvine, CA $151,965 4 Boston, MA $139,776 5 San Diego, CA $136,781 6 San Francisco, CA $134,950 7 Oakland, CA $134,410 8 Honolulu, HI $128,253 9 Seattle, WA $127,296 10 Jersey City, NJ $127,005 11 Arlington, VA $125,882 12 Los Angeles, CA $120,307 13 Riverside, CA $119,974 14 Sacramento, CA $117,021 15 Portland, OR $116,106 16 Washington, DC $111,155 17 Denver, CO $110,781 18 Raleigh, NC $110,490 19 Virginia Beach, VA $110,448 20 Plano, TX $109,242 21 Atlanta, GA $108,451 22 Miami, FL $108,077 23 Charlotte, NC $106,205 24 Phoenix, AZ $106,122 25 Chicago, IL $105,830 26 Tacoma, WA $105,290 27 Newark, NJ $104,125 28 Boise, ID $104,000 29 Tampa, FL $102,710 30 Nashville, TN $102,502 31 Reno, NV $102,419 32 Minneapolis, MN $102,045 33 Anchorage, AK $101,795 34 Madison, WI $101,754 35 Durham, NC $101,296 36 Colorado Springs, CO $100,464 37 Austin, TX $98,550 38 Fort Worth, TX $97,552 39 Richmond, VA $97,178 40 Philadelphia, PA $97,094 41 Dallas, TX $96,970 42 Buffalo, NY $96,221 43 St. Paul, MN $96,054 44 Pittsburgh, PA $95,472 45 Omaha, NE $94,765 46 Orlando, FL $93,475 47 Columbus, OH $92,810 48 Jacksonville, FL $92...