Can I afford $1200 per month for rent with this salary? help me!?

Question

I'm looking for a 1 bedroom place in a nice area of Brooklyn or Jersey City (close to transit so I can commute to NYC for work b/c I have no car).....if I make $35,000 a month can I afford rent at $1200 per month? Also, will I get a decent apartment/community in Brooklyn for this price?

(I don't have any family to help me figure this stuff out, that's why I am asking, thanks).

*** Sorry! If I make $35,000 PER YEAR not month, lol!

Answer 1

Thats cutting it close. You would really have to pinch pennies and pretty much have no social life.


From experience you would need to be in the 42-$45 grand range. Sorry I see you said no car. It would still be quite difficult month to month.

Answer 2

Your gross income is $2,916 per month. I would guess that after taxes you can't make more than $2,100. $1,200 on rent seems like a lot since it's more than 50% of your take home. It might be possible if you have some savings and scrimp on some things and aren't the kind of person who has to go shopping for personal things all of the time. Too bad you can't get a roommate but I guess with a 1 bedroom it would be hard. Good Luck.

Answer 3

look at it this way:
35000/52=673 week
673 x .28 tax = 188
673-188=485 week take home if you have no 401k
485x4=1940-1200=740 a month or 185 a week for food, electricity, gas, water, car..etc....
i know my bills average 300 month in michigan. i heard ny is a lot more expensive. if you dont have a car payment, you should be able to make it ok. You might want to get a roomie to split the rent.

Answer 4

1200 a month is 41% of your salary! I'm from SC, but live on Long Island now. When I lived in SC I was paying almost 800 a month making 33K. I wasn't struggling, but keep in mind everything is less in SC..food..gas..electricity. If you put 41% of your salary in rent alone what do you have left for the bills and living?

I think you should aim for 30-35% ($875-$1020). I know it doesn't look like alot (especially for NY) but maybe that just means you need a roomie.

But in my opinion 41% on rent alone is way to much.

Hope this helps... feel free to email me if you need any other advice.

Answer 5

Your rent should account for no more than 30 percent of your monthly income, so really you should look for a place at less than 1000 per month, but considering it's location, the extra 200 shouldn't cause you any major problems. In brooklyn the space you get for that amount will actually be small, but if you're single without children it'll be fine.

Answer 6

'OK, you make $820.00 per week, I assume before taxes. The old rule of rent was your rent should not exceed one week's salary, so in theory the answer is no, you can't afford it. Now, if your clear of Student Loans, Car payments, Credit Card bills I think you'll be able to do it, but you must live to a budget. Each week you have to take a set amount of money out for electric, gas, food, insurance, clothes, beauty shop, entertainment, etc etc...follow those rules, you should be OK.

Answer 7

So after taxes you will be bringing home about $27K and you will be paying $14K in rent. That will leave you with a little over a thousand a month for lights, water, food, clothing, transportation, insurance and medical bills, retirement savings? etc.

That seems unlikely to me. That seems like a really low salary for that area. Can you get a roomate or a second income?

But, I live in Texas where we can get a two-bedroom 1,000 square foot apartment for about $600.

Answer 8

Afford it - yes....should you get it? NO! Assuming after taxes you make roughly 25-27 thousand a 1200 apartment would cost you more than half of your salary per year (14,400) this does not include any renters insurance and heat, electric, water, etc I am assuming. Dont forget you need money for food and SAVINGS...Your place of residence, including insurance and other bills, should cost your roughly 1/2 of what you make so you have enough money to save, eat, and do other things...cell phone, cable, internet, etc. I would suggest looking into getting a roommate to share the cost with.

Answer 9

I think you could afford it.. I own a home now and there are a lot of additional expenses.. but when I was renting, there weren't too many expenses to worry about.. electric was paid for, water was paid for, you don't have to worry about normal home maintenance stuff.. you'd be making about a thousand a month after you take out money for rent and groceries..

Answer 10

I don't know how much apartments are in that area but that would really be cutting it close. get out a pencil and pad and write down how much you actually bring home and then write down rent, phone, cable, internet, water, ...all utilities. If you don't know you can call the companies and find out an approx-or you can also call the apartment manager and ask what utilities usually run. THen add food, how much you need for transit, lunches at work, clothes, movies, entertainment...etc. It adds up so fast! It could probably be done but your budget would be tight!! I don't think you would have much if any left for shopping and things like that. WHere are you living now? Could you stay there and save money or move in with a roommate?

Answer 11

Our mortgage payment is nearly the same amount. We are a family of four with one vehicle. Our family income is about 60,000 per year and its close to stay on budget. If you are only one person it may be possible, but I am guessing your take home pay is around 2,000 a month (if the 35,000 is your gross pay). I can't imagine trying to live off 800.00 a month if you also have a car. I know that in New York city that a lot of people do not but I don't know what your transportation costs for the subway are. Talk to a banker in your neighborhood so you can get a person who knows first hand the costs associated with living there are, such as taxes, utilities, etc.. (Are you going to have a cell phone, cable tv, internet service, a home phone, a credit card balance, a gym membership?) As I said already, it look like things would be very tight. I would see if perhaps a roommate situation would be a possibility. Its no fun to live in a big city and not be able to afford to enjoy anything it has to offer.