Rent is becoming progressively more expensive across the country. According to Trulia’s monthly Rent Monitor, “renting got more expensive in all of the 25 largest rental markets.” In May, rents rose 5.1% year-over-year. Apartment rents drove much of the increase (up 5.8% annually) and rent for single-family homes increased 2.1%.
But for the average family, rent is only a fraction of the cost of living every month. Transportation, taxes, food and healthcare all have to be managed constantly, and, of course, raising children is arguably one of the greatest expenses of all.
Some families are lucky enough to live in areas where the average family can get by—places where sandwiches aren’t over $10 and where you don’t have to cram four people in a space akin to your college dorm room. But for many others, even two steady incomes can’t support the exorbitant cost demanded by a city.
To identify where these expensive places are, FindTheHome crunched the numbers to find the metro areas in the country with the highest monthly cost of living for a family of four, where both parents are employed and file federal income taxes jointly. The data comes from the most recent 2013 Economic Policy Institute (EPI) numbers, adjusted for inflation to 2015 dollars.
FindTheHome used Learnvest’s 50-20-30 guidelines to calculate the salary required for each place, assuming 50% of salary is spent on daily costs of living, 30% is saved and 20% is allocated for flexible spending.
Kingston, NY Metro Area
Estimated household income required to raise a family: $172,070
Cost of living: $86,035
Poughkeepsie, NY Metro Area
Estimated household income required to raise a family: $172,664
Cost of living: $86, 332
Boston, MA Metro Area
Estimated household income required to raise a family: $172,994
Cost of living: $86,497
Hilo, HI Metro Area
Estimated household income required to raise a family: $176,422
Cost of living: $88,211
Arlington, VA Metro Area
Estimated household income required to raise a family: $172,520
Cost of living: $86,260
Stamford, CT Metro Area
Estimated household income required to raise a family: $176,970
Cost of living: $88,485
Washington D.C. Metro Area
Estimated household income required to raise a family: $179,002
Cost of living: $89,501
Yonkers, NY Metro Area
Estimated household income required to raise a family: $184,064
Cost of living: $92,032
Nassau, NY Metro Area
Estimated household income required to raise a family: $188,592
Cost of living: $94,296
New York City, NY Metro Area
Estimated household income required to raise a family: $188,874
Cost of living: $94,437