DC Residents: If You're Not Making $80K, You're Not Living Comfortably

WASHINGTON, DC — The District is the fifth most expensive city in terms of the cost of living comfortably in the U.S., according to the latest GoBankingRates study.

The study uses the 50-30-20 budgeting rule to represent "comfortability" which divides income into three parts — 50 percent of income should be spent on necessities, 30 percent on discretionary spending and 20 percent should go toward savings.

GoBankingRates conducted a cost-of-living comparison of the 50 most populous U.S. cities based on the median income by city and the dollar amounts required to cover the cost of necessities, including rent, utilities, groceries, transportation and healthcare in each city. Then, researchers applied the 50-30-20 rule to determine the recommended salary to live comfortably in each city.

According to the study, a DC resident needs to earn $80,273 a year to live comfortably. That means $40,136 would go toward necessities; $24,082 for discretionary spending and $16,055 would go to savings. This went down by $2,831 from 2016, when the study said you needed to make $83,104 to live comfortably in DC.

The study shows that DC residents have a median income of $70,848, which is $9,425 below the amount needed to live well in the area.

According to the GoBankingRates study, the most expensive cities to live comfortably in are: 1. San Fransisco, CA at $110,357; 2. San Jose, CA at $87,153; 3. New York, NY at $86,446; 4. Oakland, CA at $80,438 and 5. Washington, DC at $80,273.

The study also revealed that Americans living in 39 of the 50 most populous U.S. cities have incomes below (or far below) what’s needed for a comfortable living.

DC Curbed reports that Georgetown is the most expensive neighborhood in DC, costing $1,954 per square foot. Following Georgetown is Kalorama, NoMa and Adams Morgan. The most affordable area of the city is Anacostia, costing $141 per square foot.

Typically, the average price per square foot for the researched neighborhoods seemed to cost around $615 to $700.

Photo: Timothy Vollmer/Flickr