Salary Needed to Live Comfortably in U.S. Cities

Cities are ranked by the lowest annual salary needed for a single adult to live in sustainable comfort using the 50/30/20 budgeting rule.

Image is a table by SmartAsset titled "Salary Needed to Live Comfortably."

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This study considered 100 of the largest U.S. cities and used the latest data from the MIT Living Wage Calculator, last updated in Feb. 2026.

Source: SmartAsset 2026 StudyGet the dataEmbed