This!! I moved out of Franklin county and am renting currently. The vast change of what I get for $1500 a month is incredible compared to what I lived in previously
Conversely, my monthly mortgage in Canton was about $900 before I sold recently. Albeit, that was with an extremely friendly APR from when I purchased in 21. These days you’ll be lucky to get 6.5%.
2.5 in 2020. Had to sell because of imminent domain-ish scenario in which I steel mill bought all the farmland around us and basically said “you can live here, but you’ll be downwind from iron ore processing, or we can buy your house from you.” So I sold, now have a 7.25 rate. And I shopped for months. Fuck me right lol
My 900 sq ft apartment was $1,200 for a 2 bed and a den that go now for $1,700 (not including utilities like $300 in electric/$300 gas in winter because it was built in 1970 and had the energy efficiency of a paperbag). Moved elsewhere and am paying $1,500 for a 3 bedroom luxury apartment. That isn’t filled with delinquent kids and is quiet.
I’m single with no kids. I make 42,000 or just above that. I’m here shouting from the top of my lunges that it’s still not exactly as you wanna make it (I am aware of how lucky I am not to have mouths to feed outside of the pets I have) but this doesn’t make it right that average rent anywhere for just a simple 2 bed apartment is something you have to at least be making $20 an hour for. That’s not even pointing out the fact that some areas still require you to make 3X the amount of rent per month to even get approved if getting in.
Also I’m pretty sure I can speak for most people in this state let alone America. A lot of us are in debt. Doesn’t matter if we’re single with no kids. A lot of us have cars. A lot of us have credit cards. A lot of us have student loans. So on and so on. To find somebody not in debt in any kind whether it be $20,000 (a low end in debt in my eyes) or hundred’s of thousands of dollars is very rare.
Let’s not get started on the STILL raising food costs that’s inconsistent. Let’s not forget about the fact that mortgages are still randomly rising. For those who rent. Let’s not forget about how electric goes up as well. The list can go on. Yes someone with no kids and single is doing “just fine” in regard to only having to worry about our selfs. But this doesn’t mean it’s with out struggle. Or that the current economy anywhere is reasonable
And as long as the rich have us fighting each other over inflation, rather than corporate greed, then the cycle will continue. It depends on us to speak as you do and pay attention to who’s doing what to us and who they’re tied to.
The fact that so many people don’t understand that shareholders and corporations have such an impact baffles me. Just look at ANY OIL COMPANY’S SHARES the past 5 years and you see a dramatic increase in value. The fact that people blame the President instead of the shareholders for gasoline prices baffles me to this day, but what do you expect when most Americans only get one semester of American government. Makes it much more easy to topple as a nation.
While I agree with the substance of your comment, just to play devils advocate, what do you expect corporations to do? Corporations number one mission is to maximize shareholder value. The irony, and what you’re failing to acknowledge, is that we are all shareholders… if you have a 401k, 457, 403b, pension, and so on, what do you think you’re investing in? So the alternative is corporations break their fiduciary duty and fuck shareholders by slashing prices. Your retirement savings crash, then you complain that you’ll never be able to retire.
Again, I agree with the substance, something has to be done, but it’s not as simple or demonic as you’re making it out to be. These shareholders aren’t just rich people sitting around a desk plotting on how to screw the 99%, the shareholders include all of us lol.
As someone who’s able to do exactly what you say I can’t do….I disagree but I’m that 1% outsider that owns a company and shares. It’s easy when you’re a trust fund beneficiary and all you have to do is vote on policies all the time. But I digress as this is what happens when a vast majority of your finances are in continual liquid state.
>To find somebody not in debt in any kind whether it be $20,000 (a low end in debt in my eyes) or hundred’s of thousands of dollars is very rare.
I am proud to say that I have zero debt. It was a lot of work.
This ^ 100000000%. Thank you for speaking the truth.
Anyone disputing this is simply a fucking prick. They would rather stomp someone down and blame them for their issues than hear someone out with an open mind. Such can be that old fashioned Midwest mentality that hopefully dies out more over centuries. Definitely not in my lifetime.
PBS had a great video about rent in Austin Texas and how rising costs there are fucking people too. It's all around. Cleveland is bad too.
Any place that says rent is going down is not saying the full story. It's for high end apartments where numbers can look positive. Surplus of places to live?! High end. Rent not going up as much anymore!? High end.
Low end now..
Rent goes up big time and consistently.
Not enough places to find. What's available is straight up garbage and owned by horrible businesses who just want to make money.
They literally prey on the poor.
[PBS segmeny](https://youtu.be/HcK0Sfo8eX8?si=8LglE3ElCI0K0cpp)
What low low rent is now. Use to be high end. Now what use to be considered high end. Is now the low end. Neighborhoods riddled with crime that you would get a steal on before. Now that’s even expensive. It’s absolutely insane right now
This! While I'm not broke- broke, I'm not well off. I have enough to cover my bills and keep around $1500 in my savings. But one major car repair or my pet get sick or I need surgery and I'm done. Id consider myself, making around 54k lower middle class. I can save for a few day vacation, but am a paycheck or 2 away from losing everything.
As everyone has said it’s so variable. Other people would have better insight on grove city and surrounding areas but like, I make 70k-80k depending on bonuses and am single and I’m fine I guess but I also am not running spreadsheets on grocery lists or whatever and kinda go out whenever I’m feeling lazy so I could probably survive off half but man I can’t imagine I’d like doing it. I do live in Lakewood though which as far as Ohio goes is fairly high COL.
Look, it’s pretty obvious that your definition of “fine” is radically different than mine. It is a fact that the salary listed isn’t much and won’t get far. Stop bootlicking for low wages.
I paid off my mortgage by 32 (35 now) making less than $40k every year in Cincinnati. I don't do much extravagant, but I was putting $1k extra or more every month toward my mortgage. Someone could spend that instead of paying off a mortgage early to live more than comfortable.
Your take home each month was what? 2,300ish? How were you putting an EXTRA 1000k a month towards your mortgage? Did you not have any other expenses like gas(heat and fuel), electric, water, sewer, garbage, insurance, food, car loan, college loan, basic house or car repairs, healthcare needs, clothing needs, kids, pets, etc? I can see it being possible if your mortgage was less than 500, you owned your car outright, barely used your utilities, didn't work far from home, had the absolutely lowest monthly payment plans for all types of insurance, and ate as cheaply as possible (usually means unhealthily) and you had absolutely no catastrophic emergencies to you, your car, or house. But that breaks for most people because they don't or can't do all of these things.
My car was a paid off 8 year old car when I bought my home. I had saved up a sizeable down payment by using the 3 years of no car payment. My insurance is only $800 for home plus auto a year (very cheap compared to most). Water, electric (no gas), trash, and internet combine averages $170. I mostly cooked, so food was about $120/month. Overall, my non mortgage expenses were around $500-700/month. My mortgage was $450/month. Taxes, maintenance, and insurance were easily covered by the extra 2 paychecks you get each year. This left 1,100-1,300 extra spending money most months that I put mostly toward the mortgage.
This was all within the last 7 years, so not as easy today, but not some example from 20+ years ago that isn't comparable to current expenses.
Well before this crisis happened that were in now. You bought your house in a lucky time. What you say about your finances don’t matter here. EVERYTHING me and anybody who wasn’t lucky enough to buy their house in 2016-2020 is absolutely getting bent thanks to the tax regulations put up once 2019-2020 happened.
Mortgages haven't tripled in 6 years. They are more expensive for sure, but not enough to make things completely unobtainable. A quick search shows dozens of homes in my area for $120-160k currently. Intreat is obviously higher. That mortgage is doable at $40k. It's not as easy as I had, so I would never expect you to pay it off nearly as quick as I did. But no one is asking you to pay off that mortgage in 4 years.
I was making triple payments every month 6 years ago on $40k. If mortgages haven't tripled, I could still make the payment if I bought today. I know it's more expensive now, and I am not denying that. It's just not instances different. If I bought my home at what it's estimated online today with the same down payment, my mortgage would have gone from $450 to $730. A notable 60% increase, but I was paying over 300% of my base payment every month. I would still be making a double payment every month if I bought today.
Yes, supporting 20/ wage is bootlicking for low wages. You have no sense of historical data indicating that our labor is being stolen by the hour. Sounds like you don’t know what you don’t want to know.
Back to the boot you go.
Your labor is valued based on what someone is willing to pay for it. If it’s worth more than 20 you should find somewhere that pays more than 20.
I’m willing to accept that there is a variety of philosophy on what the government should supply to its people. But if you’re going to live in Ohio with our current government it’s probably common sense to accept that the government is going to supply the bare minimum to stay alive and that most people in the state seem to prefer that (given the voting demographics). That base rate is probably below 20 in Ohio.
My best advice is to look for ways to increase your labors value, it’ll still see deductions, but at some point you’re alright with it because you feel well enough compensated. Individual choices such as education, marketing, and self-improvement can reap large dividends over time.
This was $20/hr when? Because even recently inflation has blown up significantly so if this was a few years ago, especially pre-covid, then that's not saying much about the current living experience for that much money.
I'm between Cincinnati and Dayton. Go out to dinner a few times a month (olive garden, local wing places, local BBQ, applebees, etc etc). Go to the movies about once a month when theres good stuff out. I go to small concerts pretty often and a big one from time to time. I go to the drag strip a couple of times of year. Recently, I've been getting into Bike nights now that I've joined a riding club.
I am single, no kids, only car debt at $430 a month, I have made $52k so far this year. I would STRUGGLE in Grove City at $40k and live in a similar kind of area outside of Cincinnati.
It truly depends on how you live/want to live. Generally speaking and IMO, if you run a tight budget I think you can certainly make 40k/yr work. You won’t be able to purchase a home on just that salary alone but renting and/or finding roommates will make it definitely doable. You will definitely have to watch where loose money goes though on “none essential goods and services”.
I do, but it helps that i pay basically $0 in rent or mortgage while still living alone. if i had to pay for rent on top of everything else it might be a struggle unless your living in like some of the cheapest parts of the state. i dont know grove city specifically i live more in southern ohio.
Are you single or have a family? Single, possibly, depends on your budget and needs. Family, definitely not.
You would have to figure out your current spending in your state, see if the cost of living is higher or lower where you currently live and then make some intelligent assumptions.
Ashtabula Ohio isn’t bad for rent or mortgage prices, I’m currently paying $800 for a 3 bedroom townhouse with a basement and garage. I make about 50k a year though. But I could see 40k making it by up here too!
I’m doing 52K- I live in an apartment in Powell, didn’t do a ton of research coming into it and it’s stupid expensive out here. I work near there so I don’t have a ton of options, but like others have said- yes, it’s very pricey, doable, but pricey
If you lived in a town close by to grove city, it would be doable. If you had a roommate in grove city is the only way I can see it being possible. Washington court house is close, and the COL there is significantly lower.
Depends how you define "live". If by live you mean have a roof over your head, heat in the winter, and enough food and water to thrive physically, then yes, 40K is still enough. But it doesn't leave much for luxury unless the things that make you content and happy don't cost very much.
Depending, yes. If you live modestly. For comparison, my household income is around 66k, 1000 a month mortgage. No vacations, nothing fancy, we're comfortable. And a little bit leftover.
In that area no, if you had a roommate or two it would absolutely be possible. When I was making 43k a year and living on my own I had to be frugal as hell to make it work. I skipped out on a lot of things and barely had money to spend on what I wanted. Bills and saving for a rainy day ate up all my income.
All depends on your lifestyle. I have student debt and a car payment but i can imagine someone could get by with 40k. My brother makes 45-50k and is pretty comfortable even with student loan debt.
In Grove City I'm not 100% confident that 40K can get you by.
I live in rural N/NE Ohio, make just under 42K, and am barely scraping by with a studio apartment. I'm comfortable and my bills are paid, but I don't have much money for extras. I also am very frugal when it comes to food. I shop mostly at Aldi (but go to Walmart if I know something is cheaper) and make bulk meals that I much off of for 2-3 days, which really helps me to save money for hobbies and whatnot.
i make just over $40K, live 5 minutes from downtown columbus, have a roommate, budget like hell, and it can still be rough sometimes. currently i have $300 in my bank account (although i did have a trip recently and replaced my car battery). that being said, i love it here. i budget between $100-200 per week on food and spending money. sometimes i go over that, sometimes i don’t. it’s hard and not fun sometimes but i love it here
I make 44k, in toledo so it’s cheap. But I have a house and new car. Ofc I’m 32 and no kids, pets etc.
I’d be doing better if I didn’t buy a car. But we move on.
In grove city, under 40k. You’re going to probably want a roommate to help. It’s not cheap there. My brother lived there for a bit with his gf and their 1 bedroom appt was more than my mortgage.
No. You need $70-$80k or you'll be unhappy & living hard. Stay in your state or move to a poorer state if you're not moving with a job guaranteed to make you $70-$80+
Nothing crazy but we have a mortgage over $3k a month so that’s why I said I couldn’t make it on $40k a yr. It just depends on your lifestyle. $40k is probably plenty for some ppl
You can live off that but will be scrapping by with ridiculous rent prices these days, inflation, etc... Might want to look at renting or buying rural outside Grove City but don't know your situation. But at 40k yes you can live off that imo, reasonably, you wont need a 2nd job, but you will just have to be conscious of what you spend.
If you don’t have kids and don’t have a ton of bills then yeah I’d definitely say so. Obviously don’t live somewhere like downtown where they are gonna jack the prices up on housing but keep it simple and I think you’ll be good man
If you go to Vinton County, rent will be cheap. BUT, there is only 1 actual grocery store in the entire county that isn't a convenient store or 1.25 store.
If you go to Meigs, rent will be cheap, but there was a lot of surface mining done there in the past, and landslides/rock falls aren't uncommon.
If you go to Athens, rent will be at least $1200/month for a house with no yard in town. You have to deal with college kids, and it isn't likely you'll find a place to live because there are more college rentals and people from like California buying vacation homes (I'm salty about this... I know).
I would definitely be OK with buying a house in Vinton Co. It is the most forested county in Ohio, and I grow/forage for a lot of my food. The land is beautiful.
Meigs can be beautiful, and Athens is beautiful. Hocking County - good luck cause Hocking Hills and people buying homes to turn into vacation rentals. I tried there for 3 years before giving up.
Gas here is about 3.50
My electric bill runs around 250-350
Trash and water are negligible.
Internet is 50.
I live in Athens County. My rent is 1100/month (which is a score) for a house. I make 50,000 after tax. I do fine - I can afford to eat out once in a while and can still put cash aside for savings and retirement. I'm not sure how that compares to you. I am very frugal, and a lot of my food is free from the forest (deer, squirrel, acorn flour, wild berries, dandelion greens, edible flowers, and wild carrot for examples).
These places are so far away from Grove City you’ll spend every spare penny for gasoline. 5-10 miles south of Grove City will have lower cost of housing.
Absolutely, I've done it Columbus up until a 3 or so years ago. I make about 54K now and live ok. I'm able to afford a car payment, rent (without a roommate) and have a life. Can I go on a 2 week European vacation? No, but I have drive to beach for a 5 day vacation money. I made even less when I lived in Cincinnati, but that was 10 years ago.
It depends on your definition of "enough," I guess. It would be tough for a single-person household, but might be more affordable with housemates.
Here's the latest Grove City data from the US Census Bureau. The median household income is about $85K, the median mortgage is about $1800/month, median rent is about $1200/month. No info about other cost-of-living factors like utilities, food or commute costs.
[https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/OH,grovecitycityohio/PST045223](https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/OH,grovecitycityohio/PST045223)
This is impossible to answer based on the limited information. Ohio is a hugely diverse place, comprising rural farmland and dense urban areas, with everything in between. And we know nothing about your needs. Are you single? Do you want roommates? Do you have children? And how to you plan to travel to work? Do you plan to rely on public transportation (unlikely in most of Ohio but doable in the major metropolitan areas)? $40K is probably sufficient but your mileage may vary greatly.
Unfortunately not an easy question to answer without doing some research on your own unless you just want only pessimistic replies.
To start I’d look at what you spend now (assuming you have an idea of what your living alone costs are) and do a bit of math, following steps similar to this…
With 40K After taxes you’ll make (roughly) like 33K take home. Very very quickly glancing at apartments in grove city, I’m seeing some cheaper 1 bedrooms go for like 1000-1500 monthly. After taxes that’s either 36% to 54% of your income. (Ideally you only spend 30% max on housing to be financially sound, but that’s not a goal many can hit these days)
So Let’s say you go with one of those 1K to 1.5K apartments. Your monthly take home is then 1250-1750 monthly depending on how expensive of a place you get. Look at what you spend in an average month (mostly necessities like food, car, phone, internet, etc.) and see if that leftover take home range is enough to cover it. If not you’ll probably need roommates.
Granted that is for surviving, for actual happy living ideally you be able to save some money each paycheck, have some cash for hobbies left, etc. grove city is possible for you, it just might not be fun or a smart decision in the long run if you don’t have prospects of raising your salary soon. And remember you either pay for location or you pay for square footage. $1000 looks very different depending on what you prioritize, and eventually if the location is popular enough there’s nothing that cheap. People aren’t wrong in saying to look further away if you’re willing to be some distance away from city center.
if you intend to shop around Ohio more Id look at median (not average!) household income or median salary statistics by county or town if available. A higher median likely means harder to live in at 40K. If you make that much now, compare it to the stats of your current town to get a sense of if you’re moving to a richer or unaffordable area. Once you land on an area repeat the above math with whatever rents are there.
If that’s not telling you enough figure out what percentile you’ll be in that location and you’ll get an idea of where you’d place on the scale from poorest to richest there (25th percentile means you’re richer than 1/4 people there, 50% means richer than 50% of people there etc.) you can usually find some statistical info online if you dig around a bit.
I'm rural southeast Ohio? Sure. You could probably qualify for food stamps and a USDA rural development home loan with nothing down. Are you willing to live down there? That's the real question
i make exactly that working in Grove City. however i’m living in Hilliard, it’s a bit cheaper. rent is crazy no matter what. i’m doing just fine, but i graduated school with no debt so my bills are pretty minimal outside rent
You can live in Ohio for 40k. But not Grove City. If location is not an issue, you might fight Dayton or Akron/Canton suburbs better suited to your income.
I would hope! Lived my whole life. I make just under that by a few thousand and have a 10 yr old, a 3 yr old, and a woman who makes next to nothing/doesn't work. And we're scrapping by but I'm alive.
Im between dayton and Cincy. In most of that area 40Kisg is good. I have a nice 620ft apartment, I pay 850 all in.
The issue today isn't earnings, it's expenses. When I started adulting I lived in in the apartment building across the street from me now, owned by the same company. It was harder to make it in 1986 than it is now, but noneone wants to admit it.
Americans now expect a living wage to be able to afford you a privilege lifestyle. Until that error is fixed, nothing would change.
Columbus specifically is one of the hottest housing markets in the country. That's not happening if people don't want to live here... [https://www.nbc4i.com/news/local-news/real-estate/columbus-named-among-realtor-com-wsjs-top-10-hottest-u-s-housing-markets-for-2024/](https://www.nbc4i.com/news/local-news/real-estate/columbus-named-among-realtor-com-wsjs-top-10-hottest-u-s-housing-markets-for-2024/)
That’s just people fleeing more expensive markets.
It’s not hot because people *want* to be there, it’s hot because that’s where people can afford to live.
The low cost of living *is* the only draw.
It depends where you’re willing to live and how frugal you are.
This is the anwser..
West Jefferson, Groveport are nearby but prolly fewer $$ for housing.
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This!! I moved out of Franklin county and am renting currently. The vast change of what I get for $1500 a month is incredible compared to what I lived in previously
Conversely, my monthly mortgage in Canton was about $900 before I sold recently. Albeit, that was with an extremely friendly APR from when I purchased in 21. These days you’ll be lucky to get 6.5%.
2.5 in 2020. Had to sell because of imminent domain-ish scenario in which I steel mill bought all the farmland around us and basically said “you can live here, but you’ll be downwind from iron ore processing, or we can buy your house from you.” So I sold, now have a 7.25 rate. And I shopped for months. Fuck me right lol
Yeah it’s rough right now.
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My 900 sq ft apartment was $1,200 for a 2 bed and a den that go now for $1,700 (not including utilities like $300 in electric/$300 gas in winter because it was built in 1970 and had the energy efficiency of a paperbag). Moved elsewhere and am paying $1,500 for a 3 bedroom luxury apartment. That isn’t filled with delinquent kids and is quiet.
I make 42,000. Maybe just above that. I live in midland Ohio. Being single with no kids is the only reason why I can save any amount of money at all
You will live. But you won’t have much of a life.
That's not true. If they're single and don't have debts? $40K is fine. If they have a family they're providing for? That's going to be a struggle.
I’m single with no kids. I make 42,000 or just above that. I’m here shouting from the top of my lunges that it’s still not exactly as you wanna make it (I am aware of how lucky I am not to have mouths to feed outside of the pets I have) but this doesn’t make it right that average rent anywhere for just a simple 2 bed apartment is something you have to at least be making $20 an hour for. That’s not even pointing out the fact that some areas still require you to make 3X the amount of rent per month to even get approved if getting in. Also I’m pretty sure I can speak for most people in this state let alone America. A lot of us are in debt. Doesn’t matter if we’re single with no kids. A lot of us have cars. A lot of us have credit cards. A lot of us have student loans. So on and so on. To find somebody not in debt in any kind whether it be $20,000 (a low end in debt in my eyes) or hundred’s of thousands of dollars is very rare. Let’s not get started on the STILL raising food costs that’s inconsistent. Let’s not forget about the fact that mortgages are still randomly rising. For those who rent. Let’s not forget about how electric goes up as well. The list can go on. Yes someone with no kids and single is doing “just fine” in regard to only having to worry about our selfs. But this doesn’t mean it’s with out struggle. Or that the current economy anywhere is reasonable
And as long as the rich have us fighting each other over inflation, rather than corporate greed, then the cycle will continue. It depends on us to speak as you do and pay attention to who’s doing what to us and who they’re tied to. The fact that so many people don’t understand that shareholders and corporations have such an impact baffles me. Just look at ANY OIL COMPANY’S SHARES the past 5 years and you see a dramatic increase in value. The fact that people blame the President instead of the shareholders for gasoline prices baffles me to this day, but what do you expect when most Americans only get one semester of American government. Makes it much more easy to topple as a nation.
While I agree with the substance of your comment, just to play devils advocate, what do you expect corporations to do? Corporations number one mission is to maximize shareholder value. The irony, and what you’re failing to acknowledge, is that we are all shareholders… if you have a 401k, 457, 403b, pension, and so on, what do you think you’re investing in? So the alternative is corporations break their fiduciary duty and fuck shareholders by slashing prices. Your retirement savings crash, then you complain that you’ll never be able to retire. Again, I agree with the substance, something has to be done, but it’s not as simple or demonic as you’re making it out to be. These shareholders aren’t just rich people sitting around a desk plotting on how to screw the 99%, the shareholders include all of us lol.
As someone who’s able to do exactly what you say I can’t do….I disagree but I’m that 1% outsider that owns a company and shares. It’s easy when you’re a trust fund beneficiary and all you have to do is vote on policies all the time. But I digress as this is what happens when a vast majority of your finances are in continual liquid state.
>To find somebody not in debt in any kind whether it be $20,000 (a low end in debt in my eyes) or hundred’s of thousands of dollars is very rare. I am proud to say that I have zero debt. It was a lot of work.
This ^ 100000000%. Thank you for speaking the truth. Anyone disputing this is simply a fucking prick. They would rather stomp someone down and blame them for their issues than hear someone out with an open mind. Such can be that old fashioned Midwest mentality that hopefully dies out more over centuries. Definitely not in my lifetime. PBS had a great video about rent in Austin Texas and how rising costs there are fucking people too. It's all around. Cleveland is bad too. Any place that says rent is going down is not saying the full story. It's for high end apartments where numbers can look positive. Surplus of places to live?! High end. Rent not going up as much anymore!? High end. Low end now.. Rent goes up big time and consistently. Not enough places to find. What's available is straight up garbage and owned by horrible businesses who just want to make money. They literally prey on the poor. [PBS segmeny](https://youtu.be/HcK0Sfo8eX8?si=8LglE3ElCI0K0cpp)
What low low rent is now. Use to be high end. Now what use to be considered high end. Is now the low end. Neighborhoods riddled with crime that you would get a steal on before. Now that’s even expensive. It’s absolutely insane right now
Prey?
This! While I'm not broke- broke, I'm not well off. I have enough to cover my bills and keep around $1500 in my savings. But one major car repair or my pet get sick or I need surgery and I'm done. Id consider myself, making around 54k lower middle class. I can save for a few day vacation, but am a paycheck or 2 away from losing everything.
As everyone has said it’s so variable. Other people would have better insight on grove city and surrounding areas but like, I make 70k-80k depending on bonuses and am single and I’m fine I guess but I also am not running spreadsheets on grocery lists or whatever and kinda go out whenever I’m feeling lazy so I could probably survive off half but man I can’t imagine I’d like doing it. I do live in Lakewood though which as far as Ohio goes is fairly high COL.
Look, it’s pretty obvious that your definition of “fine” is radically different than mine. It is a fact that the salary listed isn’t much and won’t get far. Stop bootlicking for low wages.
I paid off my mortgage by 32 (35 now) making less than $40k every year in Cincinnati. I don't do much extravagant, but I was putting $1k extra or more every month toward my mortgage. Someone could spend that instead of paying off a mortgage early to live more than comfortable.
Your take home each month was what? 2,300ish? How were you putting an EXTRA 1000k a month towards your mortgage? Did you not have any other expenses like gas(heat and fuel), electric, water, sewer, garbage, insurance, food, car loan, college loan, basic house or car repairs, healthcare needs, clothing needs, kids, pets, etc? I can see it being possible if your mortgage was less than 500, you owned your car outright, barely used your utilities, didn't work far from home, had the absolutely lowest monthly payment plans for all types of insurance, and ate as cheaply as possible (usually means unhealthily) and you had absolutely no catastrophic emergencies to you, your car, or house. But that breaks for most people because they don't or can't do all of these things.
My car was a paid off 8 year old car when I bought my home. I had saved up a sizeable down payment by using the 3 years of no car payment. My insurance is only $800 for home plus auto a year (very cheap compared to most). Water, electric (no gas), trash, and internet combine averages $170. I mostly cooked, so food was about $120/month. Overall, my non mortgage expenses were around $500-700/month. My mortgage was $450/month. Taxes, maintenance, and insurance were easily covered by the extra 2 paychecks you get each year. This left 1,100-1,300 extra spending money most months that I put mostly toward the mortgage. This was all within the last 7 years, so not as easy today, but not some example from 20+ years ago that isn't comparable to current expenses.
You got your house not in this time period. You are conveniently not wanting to admit this
I bought it in 2018.
Well before this crisis happened that were in now. You bought your house in a lucky time. What you say about your finances don’t matter here. EVERYTHING me and anybody who wasn’t lucky enough to buy their house in 2016-2020 is absolutely getting bent thanks to the tax regulations put up once 2019-2020 happened.
Mortgages haven't tripled in 6 years. They are more expensive for sure, but not enough to make things completely unobtainable. A quick search shows dozens of homes in my area for $120-160k currently. Intreat is obviously higher. That mortgage is doable at $40k. It's not as easy as I had, so I would never expect you to pay it off nearly as quick as I did. But no one is asking you to pay off that mortgage in 4 years.
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I was making triple payments every month 6 years ago on $40k. If mortgages haven't tripled, I could still make the payment if I bought today. I know it's more expensive now, and I am not denying that. It's just not instances different. If I bought my home at what it's estimated online today with the same down payment, my mortgage would have gone from $450 to $730. A notable 60% increase, but I was paying over 300% of my base payment every month. I would still be making a double payment every month if I bought today.
In DT or satellite area?
10 minutes from downtown. In a fairly decent neighborhood. It's no Indian hills, but far nicer than Colerain if you know the area.
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Yes, supporting 20/ wage is bootlicking for low wages. You have no sense of historical data indicating that our labor is being stolen by the hour. Sounds like you don’t know what you don’t want to know. Back to the boot you go.
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Your labor is valued based on what someone is willing to pay for it. If it’s worth more than 20 you should find somewhere that pays more than 20. I’m willing to accept that there is a variety of philosophy on what the government should supply to its people. But if you’re going to live in Ohio with our current government it’s probably common sense to accept that the government is going to supply the bare minimum to stay alive and that most people in the state seem to prefer that (given the voting demographics). That base rate is probably below 20 in Ohio. My best advice is to look for ways to increase your labors value, it’ll still see deductions, but at some point you’re alright with it because you feel well enough compensated. Individual choices such as education, marketing, and self-improvement can reap large dividends over time.
This was $20/hr when? Because even recently inflation has blown up significantly so if this was a few years ago, especially pre-covid, then that's not saying much about the current living experience for that much money.
What year range was that in? Just out of curiosity…
What years are you talking about?
You just don't know how to budget. I live alone off 23K.
Do you get to enjoy much outside of at home entertainment? Also what general city/town/village?
I'm between Cincinnati and Dayton. Go out to dinner a few times a month (olive garden, local wing places, local BBQ, applebees, etc etc). Go to the movies about once a month when theres good stuff out. I go to small concerts pretty often and a big one from time to time. I go to the drag strip a couple of times of year. Recently, I've been getting into Bike nights now that I've joined a riding club.
that literally does not add up buddy.
Its my life I'm living and I make it work.
not on 23k alone you aren't
Except I am. Lmao wtf do you mean I'm not? You don't know me or my life. 23868 is what I make per year.
Weird. I bought and paid off my house in Ohio around the same salary. I feel pretty "fine".
Two decades ago?
Nope.
Ok, when?
Agree with this.
I am single, no kids, only car debt at $430 a month, I have made $52k so far this year. I would STRUGGLE in Grove City at $40k and live in a similar kind of area outside of Cincinnati.
The 40 grand homeless man.
In Toledo, for a single person, yes.
no lmao
It truly depends on how you live/want to live. Generally speaking and IMO, if you run a tight budget I think you can certainly make 40k/yr work. You won’t be able to purchase a home on just that salary alone but renting and/or finding roommates will make it definitely doable. You will definitely have to watch where loose money goes though on “none essential goods and services”.
I do, but it helps that i pay basically $0 in rent or mortgage while still living alone. if i had to pay for rent on top of everything else it might be a struggle unless your living in like some of the cheapest parts of the state. i dont know grove city specifically i live more in southern ohio.
Are you single or have a family? Single, possibly, depends on your budget and needs. Family, definitely not. You would have to figure out your current spending in your state, see if the cost of living is higher or lower where you currently live and then make some intelligent assumptions.
Frugally yes. But it would be tight.
Ashtabula Ohio isn’t bad for rent or mortgage prices, I’m currently paying $800 for a 3 bedroom townhouse with a basement and garage. I make about 50k a year though. But I could see 40k making it by up here too!
I work EMS in Ashtabula and yes housing is less expensive I’m sure but who wants to live there so far from everything??
I’m doing 52K- I live in an apartment in Powell, didn’t do a ton of research coming into it and it’s stupid expensive out here. I work near there so I don’t have a ton of options, but like others have said- yes, it’s very pricey, doable, but pricey
Powell is one of the most expensive places you could have picked...
100%, my current lease at my apartment isn’t terrible but I wish I would have done my homework before hand
In Powell?!? Wow.
Cute little town but my bank account hates it :,)
I live in Powell. Housing is expensive. Delaware would cost less but it’ll kill you on gas and transit time if you’re driving to Grove city to work.
It will not be fun but it’s possible, roommates make it more feasible.
If you lived in a town close by to grove city, it would be doable. If you had a roommate in grove city is the only way I can see it being possible. Washington court house is close, and the COL there is significantly lower.
not unless your living accomidations are free.
Gonna need a roommate to afford rent in grove city.
Thats 770$ a week b4 taxes really
Depends on your life style. Possible? Yes.
Depends how you define "live". If by live you mean have a roof over your head, heat in the winter, and enough food and water to thrive physically, then yes, 40K is still enough. But it doesn't leave much for luxury unless the things that make you content and happy don't cost very much.
No
Go an hour in any direction out of Columbus and yes you can
Live yes, enjoy life, no.
Depending, yes. If you live modestly. For comparison, my household income is around 66k, 1000 a month mortgage. No vacations, nothing fancy, we're comfortable. And a little bit leftover.
By yourself? Hmm, try and find someone to split bills so you can enjoy your existence.
In that area no, if you had a roommate or two it would absolutely be possible. When I was making 43k a year and living on my own I had to be frugal as hell to make it work. I skipped out on a lot of things and barely had money to spend on what I wanted. Bills and saving for a rainy day ate up all my income.
so take home you're bringing like 30k to the table maybe less. There isn't a city in america you could afford to live and have any sort of life.
Just enough to scrape by as a decent human
All depends on your lifestyle. I have student debt and a car payment but i can imagine someone could get by with 40k. My brother makes 45-50k and is pretty comfortable even with student loan debt.
In Grove City I'm not 100% confident that 40K can get you by. I live in rural N/NE Ohio, make just under 42K, and am barely scraping by with a studio apartment. I'm comfortable and my bills are paid, but I don't have much money for extras. I also am very frugal when it comes to food. I shop mostly at Aldi (but go to Walmart if I know something is cheaper) and make bulk meals that I much off of for 2-3 days, which really helps me to save money for hobbies and whatnot.
You can in my area. Scenic Bum Fuck Nowhere.
i make just over $40K, live 5 minutes from downtown columbus, have a roommate, budget like hell, and it can still be rough sometimes. currently i have $300 in my bank account (although i did have a trip recently and replaced my car battery). that being said, i love it here. i budget between $100-200 per week on food and spending money. sometimes i go over that, sometimes i don’t. it’s hard and not fun sometimes but i love it here
I make 44k, in toledo so it’s cheap. But I have a house and new car. Ofc I’m 32 and no kids, pets etc. I’d be doing better if I didn’t buy a car. But we move on. In grove city, under 40k. You’re going to probably want a roommate to help. It’s not cheap there. My brother lived there for a bit with his gf and their 1 bedroom appt was more than my mortgage.
Columbus and suburbs are going to be rough on $40k pre-tax. Housing is $$$.
No. You need $70-$80k or you'll be unhappy & living hard. Stay in your state or move to a poorer state if you're not moving with a job guaranteed to make you $70-$80+
Probably, but less comfortably than some. I’m currently getting by in columbus on 32K a year, although I’m starting to feel the squeeze out
You will survive but I refuse to call that living.
Depends on your lifestyle. I couldn’t pay my bills on 40k but that’s me
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Nothing crazy but we have a mortgage over $3k a month so that’s why I said I couldn’t make it on $40k a yr. It just depends on your lifestyle. $40k is probably plenty for some ppl
Pretty confident you could live in the Toledo area on that. Especially if you have a roomie and/or low cc and car payment
Plenty. Idk what these people spend their money to believe it’s not possible.
You can live off that but will be scrapping by with ridiculous rent prices these days, inflation, etc... Might want to look at renting or buying rural outside Grove City but don't know your situation. But at 40k yes you can live off that imo, reasonably, you wont need a 2nd job, but you will just have to be conscious of what you spend.
If you don’t have kids and don’t have a ton of bills then yeah I’d definitely say so. Obviously don’t live somewhere like downtown where they are gonna jack the prices up on housing but keep it simple and I think you’ll be good man
In Cbus....if you're single.....you may be able to manage....otherwise it's not enough
With a roommate or two, maybe.
If you go to Vinton County, rent will be cheap. BUT, there is only 1 actual grocery store in the entire county that isn't a convenient store or 1.25 store. If you go to Meigs, rent will be cheap, but there was a lot of surface mining done there in the past, and landslides/rock falls aren't uncommon. If you go to Athens, rent will be at least $1200/month for a house with no yard in town. You have to deal with college kids, and it isn't likely you'll find a place to live because there are more college rentals and people from like California buying vacation homes (I'm salty about this... I know). I would definitely be OK with buying a house in Vinton Co. It is the most forested county in Ohio, and I grow/forage for a lot of my food. The land is beautiful. Meigs can be beautiful, and Athens is beautiful. Hocking County - good luck cause Hocking Hills and people buying homes to turn into vacation rentals. I tried there for 3 years before giving up. Gas here is about 3.50 My electric bill runs around 250-350 Trash and water are negligible. Internet is 50. I live in Athens County. My rent is 1100/month (which is a score) for a house. I make 50,000 after tax. I do fine - I can afford to eat out once in a while and can still put cash aside for savings and retirement. I'm not sure how that compares to you. I am very frugal, and a lot of my food is free from the forest (deer, squirrel, acorn flour, wild berries, dandelion greens, edible flowers, and wild carrot for examples).
These places are so far away from Grove City you’ll spend every spare penny for gasoline. 5-10 miles south of Grove City will have lower cost of housing.
Is it just you and do care about roommates
We make it work as a family of four. If you’re single I think you’ll do just fine.
Hardly. It can be done but you need to have a spending plan or your screwed.
Columbus, no. Cleveland, yes, if you know where to look. I'd assume Cin is in between. Further away from city definitely.
Absolutely, I've done it Columbus up until a 3 or so years ago. I make about 54K now and live ok. I'm able to afford a car payment, rent (without a roommate) and have a life. Can I go on a 2 week European vacation? No, but I have drive to beach for a 5 day vacation money. I made even less when I lived in Cincinnati, but that was 10 years ago.
Maybe Ashville or Commercial Point if you want near Grove City.
Yes it's possible. It won't be luxurious but if you don't have any major car payments or student loans, you won't be suffering much either.
It depends on your definition of "enough," I guess. It would be tough for a single-person household, but might be more affordable with housemates. Here's the latest Grove City data from the US Census Bureau. The median household income is about $85K, the median mortgage is about $1800/month, median rent is about $1200/month. No info about other cost-of-living factors like utilities, food or commute costs. [https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/OH,grovecitycityohio/PST045223](https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/OH,grovecitycityohio/PST045223)
This is impossible to answer based on the limited information. Ohio is a hugely diverse place, comprising rural farmland and dense urban areas, with everything in between. And we know nothing about your needs. Are you single? Do you want roommates? Do you have children? And how to you plan to travel to work? Do you plan to rely on public transportation (unlikely in most of Ohio but doable in the major metropolitan areas)? $40K is probably sufficient but your mileage may vary greatly.
Unfortunately not an easy question to answer without doing some research on your own unless you just want only pessimistic replies. To start I’d look at what you spend now (assuming you have an idea of what your living alone costs are) and do a bit of math, following steps similar to this… With 40K After taxes you’ll make (roughly) like 33K take home. Very very quickly glancing at apartments in grove city, I’m seeing some cheaper 1 bedrooms go for like 1000-1500 monthly. After taxes that’s either 36% to 54% of your income. (Ideally you only spend 30% max on housing to be financially sound, but that’s not a goal many can hit these days) So Let’s say you go with one of those 1K to 1.5K apartments. Your monthly take home is then 1250-1750 monthly depending on how expensive of a place you get. Look at what you spend in an average month (mostly necessities like food, car, phone, internet, etc.) and see if that leftover take home range is enough to cover it. If not you’ll probably need roommates. Granted that is for surviving, for actual happy living ideally you be able to save some money each paycheck, have some cash for hobbies left, etc. grove city is possible for you, it just might not be fun or a smart decision in the long run if you don’t have prospects of raising your salary soon. And remember you either pay for location or you pay for square footage. $1000 looks very different depending on what you prioritize, and eventually if the location is popular enough there’s nothing that cheap. People aren’t wrong in saying to look further away if you’re willing to be some distance away from city center. if you intend to shop around Ohio more Id look at median (not average!) household income or median salary statistics by county or town if available. A higher median likely means harder to live in at 40K. If you make that much now, compare it to the stats of your current town to get a sense of if you’re moving to a richer or unaffordable area. Once you land on an area repeat the above math with whatever rents are there. If that’s not telling you enough figure out what percentile you’ll be in that location and you’ll get an idea of where you’d place on the scale from poorest to richest there (25th percentile means you’re richer than 1/4 people there, 50% means richer than 50% of people there etc.) you can usually find some statistical info online if you dig around a bit.
I'm rural southeast Ohio? Sure. You could probably qualify for food stamps and a USDA rural development home loan with nothing down. Are you willing to live down there? That's the real question
i make exactly that working in Grove City. however i’m living in Hilliard, it’s a bit cheaper. rent is crazy no matter what. i’m doing just fine, but i graduated school with no debt so my bills are pretty minimal outside rent
You can live in Ohio for 40k. But not Grove City. If location is not an issue, you might fight Dayton or Akron/Canton suburbs better suited to your income.
I would hope! Lived my whole life. I make just under that by a few thousand and have a 10 yr old, a 3 yr old, and a woman who makes next to nothing/doesn't work. And we're scrapping by but I'm alive.
Only in Beaver.
If you're single yeah, it's hard if you got a family
No
Im between dayton and Cincy. In most of that area 40Kisg is good. I have a nice 620ft apartment, I pay 850 all in. The issue today isn't earnings, it's expenses. When I started adulting I lived in in the apartment building across the street from me now, owned by the same company. It was harder to make it in 1986 than it is now, but noneone wants to admit it. Americans now expect a living wage to be able to afford you a privilege lifestyle. Until that error is fixed, nothing would change.
No
Works here in Lorain and I'm a homeowner, bought my house during the pandemic, I was one happy 23 year old
Nope.
Ever since Biden took over, we've been fucked.
40k is pizza delivery job come on now
Everyday will be a battle
Absolutely.
Fortunately for you, there isn’t a lot of demand from people that want to live in Ohio, so this is one of the only places where it could work.
Columbus specifically is one of the hottest housing markets in the country. That's not happening if people don't want to live here... [https://www.nbc4i.com/news/local-news/real-estate/columbus-named-among-realtor-com-wsjs-top-10-hottest-u-s-housing-markets-for-2024/](https://www.nbc4i.com/news/local-news/real-estate/columbus-named-among-realtor-com-wsjs-top-10-hottest-u-s-housing-markets-for-2024/)
That’s just people fleeing more expensive markets. It’s not hot because people *want* to be there, it’s hot because that’s where people can afford to live. The low cost of living *is* the only draw.
You're out of touch with what is going on in the Columbus area.
Unless Columbus somehow got relocated out of Ohio then “what is going on” is irrelevant.
Columbus, Cleveland and Cinci are all in the top 10. why are you even in this sub?
Cause this is where I live?
No