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LOS ANGELES - From beaches to a wide array of delicious food to twelve professional league sports teams and everything in between, there are plenty of perks of living in Los Angeles – but of course, it comes at a price.
A new study from Smart Asset breaks down how much money people living in the largest metro areas in the United States need to make in order to live comfortably.
According to the study, a Los Angeles resident without children would need to make $76,710 after taxes to live comfortably.
The study is based on the MIT Living Wage Calculator, which uses the cost of housing, food, transportation, medical care and more.
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In order to determine a "comfortable" lifestyle the study used the 50/30/20 rule, which requires 50% of after-tax income to go to needs, 30% to go to wants and 20% for savings or debt payments.
While Los Angeles made the top 10 at No. 6, somehow, it did not make the top five highest salaries needed for a single person – and was outranked by two other metro areas in California. Meanwhile, the Inland Empire ranked 11th at $67,060.
The study shows single residents in the San Francisco Bay Area need an $84,026 post-tax salary to live comfortably, and in San Diego, a $79,324 salary is needed.
While some residents are opting to leave the Golden State for cities in Arizona and Texas, several of those cities made the top 25 list as well.
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See the full list below.
Salary After Taxes Needed to Live Comfortably in the 25 Largest Metro Areas
- San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, CA, $84,026
- San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA, $79,324
- Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH, $78,752
- New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA, $78,524
- Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA, $77,634
- Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA, $76,710
- Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV, $76,194
- Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA, $74,086
- Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO, $70,892
- Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL, $67,740
- Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA, $67,060
- Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL, $67,056
- Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta, GA, $66,580
- Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ, $65,670
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI, $65,500
- Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL, $65,148
- Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX, $64,742
- Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD, $62,908
- Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI, $62,798
- Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX, $62,260
- Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC, $62,110
- Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD, $61,678
- San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX, $59,270
- Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI, $58,358
- St. Louis, MO-IL, $57,446
FOX 4's Digital Team contributed to this report.
