We are moving in Sacramento in August. How expensive is life there?

Question

I'm American and my husband is from Greece we decided to move back to USA .
My husband has a good payed job and I have part time job, his salary is 1600$ and mine 400$ monthly, our rent here is 600$ monthly and our food expences are 450$.
The base sallary in Greece is for 10-12 hours work per day and without having the right to have any break at all is
600-700$ monthly.
Obvously we can not afford to buy a house witch will cost us 200.000 $ or a new car costing 15.000$ or having any children considering that the goverment does not help at all.
Our dream will be to buy an appartment , having 1 or2 children and managing all familly costs by a full time job for my husband and a part time job for me.
How high sould be each of our salaries to live an ordinary life without having wories how to pay at the and of the month: electricity,heat,food?
By the way our last electricity bill was
( for four months 1450$ !!!!!!! )
and we rent an 900 square feet appartment.

My relatives in Sacramento told me that rent will cost us 1400$ monthly , food expenses 800$ ,car expenses 300$.

By earnig 5000$-6000$ a month it will be ok for a start.
Our expectations are really low and all these years we have leared to spend very little in everything, no new cloths, no restaurants,no new shoes allmost NO!! in everything I would say.
So knowing that people in USA spent a lot of money generaly in shoping they tend to have higher stadards than ours in what is basic cost of living.

What do you think?

Answer 1

You can't by a house in Sac-town for $200k, you can't even get a shack for that amount. Houses go for around twice that much, oh and you can buy apartments as they are not for sale. You buy a condo.

Why would the government help you with your children? That is not their job to do, it's yours.

Clearly you are meant for Sac-town, it's just a little slower than the rest of California. There is a reason it's the cow town of the state.

Answer 2

Yea living in California "quite expensive" compared to other States. If your going to try to buy a house, try to buy one in a cheaper place, generally, i would thing a household income of at least 3,000 if your going to live buy your selves and probably 5,000 if you have kids, it's also important to save up for their college and your own future. It also really depends on what part of Sac are you going to be, there are good neighborhoods, and bad ones, and the price will greatly differ. I live in North California too, generaly the food and things are a little more expensive, and o yea, you can save around $100 by not using AC or Heater as much as normal.

o yea about the kids, they should get free lunch at school and most of their field trip cost should be covered by the school. And you will get a around $500 on your tax return back for kids i think.

Answer 3

Sacramento has homes around 200K. The above answer is false statement. Yes you can live in Sacramento,CA for 2000k per couple. Tight but managable. There are enough areas in Sacramento for people to live. The housing market is declining and the inventory for homes in increasing. Email me and I can get you started on some great First Time Homebuyer Homes and Foreclosure list which is sent to you daily. Any questions about areas to live please ask and welcome to living in Sacramento, CA.

HAPPY LIVING!