With inflation still on the rise, Glenn and Stu review another shocking number: how much money you need to “live comfortably” in America. The numbers have gone through the roof and it’s no surprise that the most expensive states are blue states. Thanks to inflation, a single adult now needs to make over $100,000 a year in order to live comfortably in many states. So, can you afford your state?
TranscriptBelow is a rush transcript that may contain errors
GLENN: Okay. So there's a new number out now, on what it costs to live in the United States of America. It's a little higher than it used to be.
And I -- I don't know if anybody has noticed they're having a hard time making ends meet.
Comfortable to live comfortably is defined as the monthly income, needed to cover a 50/30/20 budget, which allocates 50 percent of your earnings for necessities like housing and utility costs, 30 percent for discretionary spending, and 20 percent for savings or investments.
STU: Wow. I don't think a lot of people are living like that.
GLENN: Nobody is living like that. Nobody is living like that.
STU: That -- but wait. Percent of what? If you're making $10 million. You know. What is it -- you don't need to have a 50/30/20 lifestyle to live comfortably, right?
GLENN: Right. Right.
They're saying this is the minimum. This is what it takes to, you know, live comfortably. In America.
STU: So -- this is not talking about -- I think Jeff Bezos is pretty good. I don't think he needs an article.
STU: You're saying, they're basically reverse engineering the number you need to hit that. Is that what you're saying?
GLENN: Yes. Yes.
Okay. All right? Jeez.
STU: I was trying to understand.
GLENN: Here they are.
Most costly states: Massachusetts. $116,000.
STU: Hard-core conservative state.
GLENN: Hawaii. You'll see this a lot. Hawaii, 113.
STU: Another conservative -- red state.
GLENN: California, 113.
STU: Big red state there.
GLENN: New York, 111.
STU: Wow.
GLENN: I'm rounding out the top. Topping out the top five is Washington State, with 106.
STU: Another big red state. That's amazing. So $100,000, and you cannot live comfortably.
GLENN: Uh-huh.
STU: That's incredible.
GLENN: Okay. Now, to live comfortably in these states, you need to earn double what most single earners typically make. The median income for a single full-time worker is around $60,000. The national median for living comfortably is $89,000.
So there's a shortage there.
STU: And those are statewide numbers to point out. It's a lot worse in these cities.
Like, there was a time. I don't know this is eight to ten years old now.
When I remember looking at this. They gave you these guide lines, what you need to earn to buy an average home in the market. In the market of San Francisco, the -- several of the players on the roster of the San Francisco giants, did not earn enough money, to buy the average home.
GLENN: It's crazy.
STU: In the market.
GLENN: So let me go through this. Alabama, to live comfortably, $83,000.
Alaska, $96,000.
And I don't know if that's ever -- I don't know if you're ever comfortable living in Alaska, unless you can change the climate completely.
GLENN: Yeah. Right.
Arizona, $97,000. Arkansas, 79
STU: Gosh.
GLENN: California, 113. Colorado, 103. Connecticut, 100. Delaware, 94. Florida, 93.
Think of that. In Florida, it's 93. In Colorado, it's 100. Georgia, 96. Hawaii, 113. Idaho, 88. Illinois, 95. Indiana, 85. Iowa, 83. Kansas, 84. Kentucky, 80. Louisiana, 82. Maine, 91.
Why? Bear traps? Maryland.
STU: That's a northeast state.
GLENN: Maryland, 102. Massachusetts, 116. Michigan, 84. Minnesota, 89. Mississippi, 82. Missouri, 84. Montana, 84. Nebraska, 83.
STU: A lot of these -- these are like the bargain basement states. You are having $85,000 to live comfortably.
GLENN: I know. Yeah.
STU: That's just putting away some money for retirement. That's not living -- you're not flying private.
GLENN: I know. Yeah, but you're not living paycheck to paycheck. If you would live that way. If you would do 50/30/20.
STU: Right. Right.
GLENN: Nevada, 93.
Nobody does that. Do you know anybody who is young, that put 20 percent of their salary away for savings?
STU: Depends what you mean by young. As you're starting out, you're just trying to make it, pay your bills. As you get older, you're trying to put some money away.
GLENN: 20 percent?
STU: It's hard to do.
GLENN: Really hard to do. Nevada, 93.
STU: By the way, 50/20/30. What are the taxes on this one? This is post-tax revenue, I assume.
GLENN: Yeah. Where are the taxes?
STU: Another 30 is going to taxes. So which part of it are you taking out?
GLENN: That's why nobody saves. New Hampshire, 98. New Jersey, 103. To live in New Jersey. New Mexico, 83. New York, 111. North Carolina, 89. North Dakota, 52.
STU: North Dakota. This is -- this is hwy people go to the Dakotas, I suppose. It's --
GLENN: Is it worth Dakota, though? You don't even have the presidential thing on the mountain, that Dakota.
STU: That's true. Was that the Doug Burgum state?
GLENN: Yes, it is. Fifty-two.
STU: You got those eyebrows. They are kind of like -- on the Mount Rushmore of eyebrows. I don't know if that counts.
GLENN: Ohio, 80. Oklahoma, 80. Oregon, 101.
STU: Hmm.
GLENN: Pennsylvania, 91. Rhode Island, 100. Oh, my gosh, for Rhode Island!
South Carolina, 88. South Dakota, 81. Tennessee, 86. Texas, 87. Utah, 93. Vermont, 95.
Virginia, 99. Washington, 106. West Virginia, 78.
That's a state you could live in. Wisconsin, 84. Wyoming, 87.
Wow.
STU: First of all, the red and blue state is -- I don't know if it's perfect. It's darn close to perfect, as far as the difference is.
GLENN: It is. It is.
STU: You look at that, and you think -- it wasn't that long ago, that we would say, oh, my gosh, nap guy is earning six figures. Doing really well.
GLENN: Yeah.
STU: That's just not even doing really well.
GLENN: No.
STU: It's the way you're supposed to plan for your future. And now you need to earn six figures, in most states. Or at least close to most states.
GLENN: And it's going to get worse. That's the problem. It will get worse.
How will companies be able to keep up with it? How is that going to happen?
GLENN: The presses.
STU: Yeah. But eventually, people can't afford to produce the products that people want, and people can't afford to buy the products that they need.
STU: I mean, you just recited the slogan for Bidenomics. That's exactly --
GLENN: Yes, I did. Starts bottom up. Bottom up. First people to be heard.
The bottom. And eventually, it's heard all the way up.
The -- in another remarkable story, the IMF has come out and said, that Biden has got to stop money.
Printing money, and spending money.
The International Monetary Fund, sounded the alarm on the Biden administration's rampant spending as, quote, out of line with what is needed for long-term fiscal stability.
STU: No!
GLENN: Yeah. Yeah.
STU: What? It feels like it's right in line with the exact -- what you're supposed to do with each budget is spend trillions of dollars than you have.
I thought that's the way you're supposed to be fiscally responsible. What is the 50, 30, 20 number for the United States right now? It's like 80, 50, zero. Eighty, 50, negative 30. Right?
That's what we're doing. The savings is negative 30 percent of the budget. We're spending mandatories, like 80 percent of what we have. Then there's another 50 percent discretionary. It's insanity. And we're getting to the point very soon. Just the interest on the money already spent will be more than our entire defense budget.
GLENN: We will have to borrow over a trillion dollars a year, just for the interest.
STU: My God.
GLENN: I mean, this is unsustainable.
And I really don't understand, why more people can't see this.
STU: You keep seeing this word.
I don't think it means what you think it means.