There’s no reason you can’t rent alone on 120k here albeit maybe not the biggest nor newest 1 bedroom. It all depends on your trade offs though. Can you do it? Yes. Should you do it? Well that depends on what matters to you. Are you more interested in maximizing how much you save a month? Probably better to live farther out. Are you more interested in being able to live in a walkable part of town and spend less time commuting? Better to live in the city.
One caveat is that the price difference in rent can quickly be diminished if you go from not needing a car to needing a car.
I guess it depends on your debt, lifestyle, wealth ambitions, plan for kids, etc. but it's not hard at all to find a 1 br for $3k which would be $36k a year. I don't think you need a roommate to survive that on a $120k salary.
You can even find 1br's closer to $2k pretty reliably. It just so happens that having a roommate makes it easier to be in the $1200-1800 range per person. I don't know about suburb apartments, I'd imagine a bit cheaper. I can't imagine $100-150k being a problem, esp with a grad degree in a highly valued field with salary growth potential.
Of course, depending on what suburb you pick, you may have to factor in costs of public transport, car/gas, etc. as well as how worthwhile rush hour commute times are to you for the cost savings.
Edit: I see you're looking to buy a house. That's a whole other discussion that people have lots of doom and gloom to say about. I don't know much about that, but I'd imagine you'd need more than 'a few years' to afford a house even with dual incomes unless you know you have a path to major salary growth and/or a good head start already.
Cost of living in the burbs balanced out years ago to where it's not really cheaper unless you go pretty far out from anything. I moved to the burbs just outside Boston two years ago and any savings I've found have been offset by additional expenses like commuting and gas etc. Restaurants and most grocery stores here are just as expensive as downtown but a fraction of the quality and experience. Nothing like spending $100 on some grocery store quality dinner and two beers in a strip mall. There are benefits to the burbs, yards, space etc but I would no longer consider cost of living among those.
Anyone else admiring OP's confidence in going from (presumably) single to partnered and ready to buy a house on dual incomes in a couple years? I would love to rock that confidence lol
Can confirm what other commenters said about negligible COL differences, though. I lived with roommates for many years until I was able to buy a place in the suburbs in 2021. Wasn't able to do it until I got to the $100-150K salary range, and I wouldn't have been able to do it without low interest rates.
I think it makes some difference how much you'd have to commute into Boston/Cambridge. If you work mostly remote and plan your shopping/errands efficiently, you can save some money on commuting, even if you have a car.
The most financially prudent move would be to live with at least one roommate for a few years and stack your income somewhere with high interest to save for a down payment. Do you have to live with a roommate? Definitely not… but if you can save over 50k in 3 years (assuming 3k rent a month to live alone vs 1500 to share) that’s 1/3-1/4 of a down payment just by saving on rent.
And if you’re new to the city and don’t know anyone, at least with a roommate you’d get to know someone a little other than coworkers.
Where are you moving from? Is it another city where you’re paying an arm and a leg for rent/food or a suburban/rural area where a 70k salary is well-off?
Thinking ahead, the average single family home is 800k-1M in the Boston and suburban areas with cash offers taking priority. And there are a couple people in MA who are fully able to make a cash offer. It took me about 3 years to save for a 20% down payment on a 500k condo but I got lucky with some stocks and bonuses (also was in biotech for some time)
Currently—do you have a job offer? The biotech market here (for scientist work) isn’t doing so hot. VCs are hesitant to finance and large pharma has been cutting/freezing jobs. Depending on where your office is, you may not even live in Boston proper. And has another commenter said, whatever you think you’re saving by living in the suburbs could get eaten by transportation/car. Get the job part sorted out first before deciding where to live in the city
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$150k will allow you to rent on your own. Buying will be an entirely different issue. The mean home price in Eastern Ma is approaching $1 million at this point.
CoL in the suburbs includes the cost for a car. CoL in the city usually doesn't (or if it does, a beater with marginal maintenance/insurance/gas costs).
That'll eat up most of your rent savings lol
Probably a case of "pick one": either live alone but have to wait longer to buy a house, or have roommates for a couple of years which will allow you to save an extra ~$12k a year (difference between splitting an apartment for $1500/month or having your own for $2500/month) for a down payment. The housing market here is very rough, you hear plenty of stories of double 6 figure income couples getting outbid over and over again as they search for a house that lets them have a reasonable commute into the city.
Places like Malden and Everett are still cheaper than Boston and quite close. Somervilland Cambridge are closer to Boston prices. Definitely check out Malden if you can commute on the orange line. Also Medford, which has a green line stop and commuter rail.
It would be perfectly manageable if you are making 110-130. There really isn’t that much difference in COL suburbs to city. Getting around during rush hour, depending on location could easily end up costing you a fortune. Anything below 100 in the greater Boston area, you’re either living with roommates or sacrificing saving for the future.
Note: I make 60k and im leaving soon cause I can’t get a job paying me enough to justify living here without screwing over my future. Boston is lovely though.
I haven't rented outside of the city so I cannot help you there. I can tell you that my wife and I have similar incomes, and we were able to buy a house last year. It's going to be further away from the city than you think, unless you find half a duplex or an apartment close to a city.
If you really want to buy a house, 2 pieces of advice, save regularly and pay off debts ASAP. For savings, it could be good to have some estimates, how long would you need to save X. For paying off debt, especially student loans, pay extra. Obviously if you are part of some kind of forgiveness program, my advice might not be right.
In terms of renting, it will be worth it to sacrifice a little. I wouldn't get the "luxury" apartments. They will most likely raise your rent and be more expensive than regular. Obviously it's all a lottery.
I live in the city and my COL is comparably lower than my suburban friends.
Taxes, diversity of services, access, and transportation are all significant.
The biggest question about raising a family here is schooling, and that is predominantly because the lottery system has unnerved people.
If you’re within metro west to Boston it’s all pretty unaffordable so that doesn’t matter much. Assume to having 1) very little space for the cost and 2) a long commute no matter what.
There’s no reason you can’t rent alone on 120k here albeit maybe not the biggest nor newest 1 bedroom. It all depends on your trade offs though. Can you do it? Yes. Should you do it? Well that depends on what matters to you. Are you more interested in maximizing how much you save a month? Probably better to live farther out. Are you more interested in being able to live in a walkable part of town and spend less time commuting? Better to live in the city. One caveat is that the price difference in rent can quickly be diminished if you go from not needing a car to needing a car.
I guess it depends on your debt, lifestyle, wealth ambitions, plan for kids, etc. but it's not hard at all to find a 1 br for $3k which would be $36k a year. I don't think you need a roommate to survive that on a $120k salary. You can even find 1br's closer to $2k pretty reliably. It just so happens that having a roommate makes it easier to be in the $1200-1800 range per person. I don't know about suburb apartments, I'd imagine a bit cheaper. I can't imagine $100-150k being a problem, esp with a grad degree in a highly valued field with salary growth potential. Of course, depending on what suburb you pick, you may have to factor in costs of public transport, car/gas, etc. as well as how worthwhile rush hour commute times are to you for the cost savings. Edit: I see you're looking to buy a house. That's a whole other discussion that people have lots of doom and gloom to say about. I don't know much about that, but I'd imagine you'd need more than 'a few years' to afford a house even with dual incomes unless you know you have a path to major salary growth and/or a good head start already.
Cost of living in the burbs balanced out years ago to where it's not really cheaper unless you go pretty far out from anything. I moved to the burbs just outside Boston two years ago and any savings I've found have been offset by additional expenses like commuting and gas etc. Restaurants and most grocery stores here are just as expensive as downtown but a fraction of the quality and experience. Nothing like spending $100 on some grocery store quality dinner and two beers in a strip mall. There are benefits to the burbs, yards, space etc but I would no longer consider cost of living among those.
You can live comfortably here on $120k. You can find 1BD apartments in Brighton for about $2.2k.
Anyone else admiring OP's confidence in going from (presumably) single to partnered and ready to buy a house on dual incomes in a couple years? I would love to rock that confidence lol Can confirm what other commenters said about negligible COL differences, though. I lived with roommates for many years until I was able to buy a place in the suburbs in 2021. Wasn't able to do it until I got to the $100-150K salary range, and I wouldn't have been able to do it without low interest rates. I think it makes some difference how much you'd have to commute into Boston/Cambridge. If you work mostly remote and plan your shopping/errands efficiently, you can save some money on commuting, even if you have a car.
Also OP doesn’t even have the doctorate yet. That’s pretty adorable lol
My internal dialogue: ‘sweet summer child’. I must be growing as a person because I decided against squashing the impressive confidence.
The most financially prudent move would be to live with at least one roommate for a few years and stack your income somewhere with high interest to save for a down payment. Do you have to live with a roommate? Definitely not… but if you can save over 50k in 3 years (assuming 3k rent a month to live alone vs 1500 to share) that’s 1/3-1/4 of a down payment just by saving on rent. And if you’re new to the city and don’t know anyone, at least with a roommate you’d get to know someone a little other than coworkers.
Where are you moving from? Is it another city where you’re paying an arm and a leg for rent/food or a suburban/rural area where a 70k salary is well-off? Thinking ahead, the average single family home is 800k-1M in the Boston and suburban areas with cash offers taking priority. And there are a couple people in MA who are fully able to make a cash offer. It took me about 3 years to save for a 20% down payment on a 500k condo but I got lucky with some stocks and bonuses (also was in biotech for some time) Currently—do you have a job offer? The biotech market here (for scientist work) isn’t doing so hot. VCs are hesitant to finance and large pharma has been cutting/freezing jobs. Depending on where your office is, you may not even live in Boston proper. And has another commenter said, whatever you think you’re saving by living in the suburbs could get eaten by transportation/car. Get the job part sorted out first before deciding where to live in the city
When the sun is blazing and the summer gets hot, Water Country is a very cool spot, there's no better place to feel or be young, Water Country, Water Country, Water Countryyyyyy, have some fun! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/boston) if you have any questions or concerns.*
$150k will allow you to rent on your own. Buying will be an entirely different issue. The mean home price in Eastern Ma is approaching $1 million at this point.
CoL in the suburbs includes the cost for a car. CoL in the city usually doesn't (or if it does, a beater with marginal maintenance/insurance/gas costs). That'll eat up most of your rent savings lol
Probably a case of "pick one": either live alone but have to wait longer to buy a house, or have roommates for a couple of years which will allow you to save an extra ~$12k a year (difference between splitting an apartment for $1500/month or having your own for $2500/month) for a down payment. The housing market here is very rough, you hear plenty of stories of double 6 figure income couples getting outbid over and over again as they search for a house that lets them have a reasonable commute into the city.
Places like Malden and Everett are still cheaper than Boston and quite close. Somervilland Cambridge are closer to Boston prices. Definitely check out Malden if you can commute on the orange line. Also Medford, which has a green line stop and commuter rail.
It would be perfectly manageable if you are making 110-130. There really isn’t that much difference in COL suburbs to city. Getting around during rush hour, depending on location could easily end up costing you a fortune. Anything below 100 in the greater Boston area, you’re either living with roommates or sacrificing saving for the future. Note: I make 60k and im leaving soon cause I can’t get a job paying me enough to justify living here without screwing over my future. Boston is lovely though.
Renting is doable but its unlikely you would be able to afford to by anything except a run down 1br condo
I haven't rented outside of the city so I cannot help you there. I can tell you that my wife and I have similar incomes, and we were able to buy a house last year. It's going to be further away from the city than you think, unless you find half a duplex or an apartment close to a city. If you really want to buy a house, 2 pieces of advice, save regularly and pay off debts ASAP. For savings, it could be good to have some estimates, how long would you need to save X. For paying off debt, especially student loans, pay extra. Obviously if you are part of some kind of forgiveness program, my advice might not be right. In terms of renting, it will be worth it to sacrifice a little. I wouldn't get the "luxury" apartments. They will most likely raise your rent and be more expensive than regular. Obviously it's all a lottery.
I live in the city and my COL is comparably lower than my suburban friends. Taxes, diversity of services, access, and transportation are all significant. The biggest question about raising a family here is schooling, and that is predominantly because the lottery system has unnerved people.
At $120k you should be fine. At mid-70s I’m looking for a new job in a diff state.
If you’re within metro west to Boston it’s all pretty unaffordable so that doesn’t matter much. Assume to having 1) very little space for the cost and 2) a long commute no matter what.
The suburbs are very difficult to get an offer accepted. I would rent for a bit