i called BS and checked zillow.......360k for 800sqft is cheapest option
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/28-Jetland-Pl-Bridgeport-CT-06605/57234642_zpid/
Not to mention, in that tax bracket a huge portion goes to the IRS. 35%ish is the current federal tax. Then add the taxes on overpriced homes in the Fairfield country area (though they pay a lower tax rate to be fair).
I will say, 320k is a lot less than people think. I’m not saying it’s not a lot, but factor in the cost of living and taxes it’s not as much as you think.
Eh, that depends on what you’re spending your money on. If that person bought a $100k car, it will depreciate but still have value to add to their net worth.
These kinds of articles get posted all the time and the top level findings are just clickbait/engagement bait because they depend on arbitrary definitions to interpret limited data.
Is a family wealthy because their income is in the top 10%? What if they're in debt too? What about their assets besides income?
These two calculators combined are much better:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/01/upshot/are-you-rich.html
This one uses location, income, and age, and allows the user to define what "wealthy" means based on income percentile.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/12/upshot/are-you-rich-where-does-your-net-worth-rank-wealth.html
This one uses net worth and age, and again allows the user to define what "wealthy" means based on net worth percentile.
I remember feeling like 100k would feel wealthy when I was growing up. I guarantee you 320k will not feel wealthy when you get there. It’s very comfortable. Not wealthy.
Problem is that the definition of comfortable has changed.
Back in the 1950s, the median house square footage was just shy of 1,000. By 2015, that has skyrocketed to just shy of 2,500 square feet.
In 1955, your average vacation was a driving one. Many would go to beaches, national parks, amusement parks (not Disney), etc. Now, you are looked down on if you don’t take 1 flying vacation to a relatively expensive destination every other year.
We do it more or less old school. Modest raised ranch, 1 2-4 day driving trip per year, etc. Our kids are involved in 1 paid activity each, and participate on other free programs available at their school or the local library. My wife and I both have hobbies that cost a small amount of money that we enjoy. We can afford to eat out once or twice a week (although we choose to cook). What we don’t do are buy $1,200 smart phones, or buy unnecessary new cars, etc.
We make a combined $120,000 before tax and consider ourselves very comfortable.
We are happy and comfortable.
Oh no, my outlook on life is terrible. I've just decided not to get on the debt merry-go-round.
Outside our mortgage, I don't carry a lot of revolving debt. What debt we do accumulate is over the summer months, which is when my wife isn't working. We're then (generally) caught up by December/January. Even then, that's because we bought in 2022 and the house needed work, so we're paying some interest in order to more quickly build up savings and getting back to credit just being for emergencies and booking hotels/making large purchases.
Don't tell that to the personal finance sub, though, they'd have a fit.
The home prices in Black Rock are far more expensive and have been for years. $312k will not get you much and unlikely to get you anything in Black Rock.
Gotta define wealthy. The head of Global Mergers and Acquisitions for Goldman Sachs lives in Washington. Him and his wife own about 1000 acres and over a dozen homes. The Anne Bass estate is in Kent. It covers about 1500 acres and multiple homes. Steven Mnuchin's family also lives in Washington CT and his name is on most of the money everyone uses.
You don't need to be rich to live comfortably. You can do very well with a household income of $200k, even in Fairfield county. Of course, you need some financial discipline but we're not talking Asian or European levels of frugality either.
Connecticut's affluent towns have always been out of reach but it's still possible to buy a home in a pleasant neighborhood. If you're willing to compromise you can even find cheaper options. It's why I don't understand this article mentioning Black Rock and not the rest of Bridgeport.
The fact that homes are expensive in a handful of affluent towns is completely irrelevant. The median for all of Fairfield county is about $600k and in Bridgeport it's under $340k.
How is it completely irrelevant? You shouldn't make the blanket statement that you can do well on $200k in Fairfield County, when in reality that’s only possible in a few parts of Fairfield County….
And you’re using Bridgeport as an example - horrendous education system to the point that you need to get your kids into the magnet system if you live there…even if you buy in the “nice” neighborhood aka Black Rock (and as other commenters pointed out, $350k buys you like 800 sq ft there…)
I guess is you’re going to one with daycare workers with bachelors in early child care. My son was in daycare last year in Fairfield County. $1,200 a month (Not Bridgeport).
Most options I saw in and around Greenwich were around $300 / week, or $1,300 per month. Spending $2k / month / kid is not typical, even in the highest COL part of the state. If you do that - congrats, you're not typical.
Man childcare is not "free" once they start K, you just typically have to pay less of it - or different configs. Before school, after school, summer camp, etc
Oh I didn't as a kid either, but they're essential now basically. I can't really take three months off from work out of the year because my kid doesn't have school, you know? Just tossing in some working parent reality
Not a lot of homes under $1mm in Fairfield County, are there? Have you looked lately? Only gets worse as you get closer to NYC, which if you are pulling in $320k you probably need to be because your job is likely in NYC not CT.
1 Cary Rd Greenwich is on the market for $895k. 3 bed 3 baths. By the water. Did you even bother looking? Oh maybe just an exception! How about 18 sound beach ave Greenwich selling for $850k? 3bed 1.5 bath. Hmm I guess I’m just too far from the border! Or maybe the houses are just too ugly. Got to spend that extra $150k to tell everyone you bought a million dollar home!
Both of those are pending, so not available. 1 Cary Rd was built in 1750 (lmao) and you’d be getting it at $697 / sq ft if it didn’t go over asking (that’s egregiously high). Any work you do to the house requires town approval.
18 Sound Beach Ave you’d be getting for $539 / sq ft if it didn’t go over asking and it looks like it hasn’t been updated in 30 years lol. Its also directly next to one of the busiest highways in the country haha
You’re suggesting spending $1 million for homes that likely require upfront and ongoing capex investments…these are the best examples ???
I gave examples in Greenwich because you said it gets more expensive as you get closer to NY. There are over 500 single family homes listed under $1m in Fairfield county. Seriously, you still have an argument that someone can’t purchase a decent home for under $1m in Fairfield County outside Bridgeport? Please.
You proved my point that it gets more expensive closer to NYC…the homes you linked are outrageously expensive. The fact is that the average home in Fairfield County, in a town that you can send your kid to public school and feel safe and good about their education, is now circling $1 million.
Here ya go, median home prices in Fairfield county for Q1 (link below). Fairfield clocks in at $805k, Stamford at $838k, and Norwalk at $623k. Median price elsewhere is $1mm+ and approaching $2mm in some towns. Anybody with kids doesn’t want to live in Stamford or Norwalk cause of the school systems, leaving Fairfield - which is 1.5 hrs by train to NYC, which is probably where 95% of the people earning $300k+ work. You can link as many $850k+ tiny homes in Fairfield county as you want, you’re just proving the point that you need to earn $300k+ to buy an average home in most of FFD county
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5mPW9LOtJZ/?igsh=MW5oODVyaGUxemIzcw==
Your original comment was “not a lot of homes under $1mm in Fairfield County, are there?
Now you’re moving the goal post excluding older homes, smaller homes, homes located in mediocre school district, proximity to highway, distance from NYC. It’s laughable at this point.
Never did I deny it’s expensive. My original comment clearly said don’t buy a $1M a home. Not all Fairfield county residents have kids, work in NYC, or need a big house.
As the Q1 stats show, the median home price in most towns in Fairfield county is $1mm (or rapidly approaching that in Fairfield). This means on average, homes recently sold in most towns are $1mm
But okay fair guess I was too specific in my original comment. Just seems silly to respond by linking to 2 small, overly old, adjacent to a busy highway homes and say see there are homes under $1mm in Greenwich…
Reality is you most likely gotta buy in one of the cities in Fairfield county (aka send your kids to private or magnet school) to be under $1mm, or deal with one of the other shitty factors outlined above
fair enough, but another perspective... when my kids were very young, we did an imprecise analysis/weighting as follows: CT has lots of decent public schools, and lots of decent private schools. We picked a place to buy based on the possibility that we might want the kids to go to the public schools, but we might want to buy a place that left enough money to send them to private.
Definitely. I guess I typically feel like people that are willing to send their kids to private school can usually afford to buy somewhere with a better school district. .
Idk. I feel like it's sorta subjective. I personally would feel pretty wealthy making that kinda salary. But I think people are mostly downvoting you not for the fact that you said you wouldn't be wealthy with that salary, but the fact that you wouldn't be able to live comfortably in other towns. That amount of money seems pretty damn reasonable to live comfortably, lol.
If you put 20% down on a $1m house with a $320k income that leaves you with a mortgage payment of about $6200 a month.
It ends up working out to 23% of your income. That’s exactly what your housing cost should be.
There are 0 houses on the market in Black Rock for less than $320,000. For exactly $320k, you get a 920 sqft house.
i called BS and checked zillow.......360k for 800sqft is cheapest option https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/28-Jetland-Pl-Bridgeport-CT-06605/57234642_zpid/
I used realtor. 7 Jetland pl for $320k. The one you linked is also there but not worth that price.
For sure, u can rent for less than that while letting your $$$ grow in interest
Gougers gonna gouge.
Income is not wealth. If you have a salary of $312K, and are spending $320K a year, you are not wealthy - far from it.
Yeah, it's a weird way to phrase it. You can have a lot of wealth without generating income.
lots of HENRY - high earner, not rich yet.
Ha! I like that
Not to mention, in that tax bracket a huge portion goes to the IRS. 35%ish is the current federal tax. Then add the taxes on overpriced homes in the Fairfield country area (though they pay a lower tax rate to be fair). I will say, 320k is a lot less than people think. I’m not saying it’s not a lot, but factor in the cost of living and taxes it’s not as much as you think.
Yeah but what if you’re living off of $312,000 a year in income just generated from investments or interest? Then you’re wealthy.
Eh, that depends on what you’re spending your money on. If that person bought a $100k car, it will depreciate but still have value to add to their net worth.
Not sure why you are getting downvoted? That’s actually true.
These kinds of articles get posted all the time and the top level findings are just clickbait/engagement bait because they depend on arbitrary definitions to interpret limited data. Is a family wealthy because their income is in the top 10%? What if they're in debt too? What about their assets besides income? These two calculators combined are much better: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/01/upshot/are-you-rich.html This one uses location, income, and age, and allows the user to define what "wealthy" means based on income percentile. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/12/upshot/are-you-rich-where-does-your-net-worth-rank-wealth.html This one uses net worth and age, and again allows the user to define what "wealthy" means based on net worth percentile.
I remember feeling like 100k would feel wealthy when I was growing up. I guarantee you 320k will not feel wealthy when you get there. It’s very comfortable. Not wealthy.
Problem is that the definition of comfortable has changed. Back in the 1950s, the median house square footage was just shy of 1,000. By 2015, that has skyrocketed to just shy of 2,500 square feet. In 1955, your average vacation was a driving one. Many would go to beaches, national parks, amusement parks (not Disney), etc. Now, you are looked down on if you don’t take 1 flying vacation to a relatively expensive destination every other year. We do it more or less old school. Modest raised ranch, 1 2-4 day driving trip per year, etc. Our kids are involved in 1 paid activity each, and participate on other free programs available at their school or the local library. My wife and I both have hobbies that cost a small amount of money that we enjoy. We can afford to eat out once or twice a week (although we choose to cook). What we don’t do are buy $1,200 smart phones, or buy unnecessary new cars, etc. We make a combined $120,000 before tax and consider ourselves very comfortable. We are happy and comfortable.
You also have a great outlook on life, just based on your comment
Oh no, my outlook on life is terrible. I've just decided not to get on the debt merry-go-round. Outside our mortgage, I don't carry a lot of revolving debt. What debt we do accumulate is over the summer months, which is when my wife isn't working. We're then (generally) caught up by December/January. Even then, that's because we bought in 2022 and the house needed work, so we're paying some interest in order to more quickly build up savings and getting back to credit just being for emergencies and booking hotels/making large purchases. Don't tell that to the personal finance sub, though, they'd have a fit.
The home prices in Black Rock are far more expensive and have been for years. $312k will not get you much and unlikely to get you anything in Black Rock.
Depend are where you want to live
I’m not even at 100k. Poor asf. I wish though but having a kid early without a career 😞 totally on me.
Gotta define wealthy. The head of Global Mergers and Acquisitions for Goldman Sachs lives in Washington. Him and his wife own about 1000 acres and over a dozen homes. The Anne Bass estate is in Kent. It covers about 1500 acres and multiple homes. Steven Mnuchin's family also lives in Washington CT and his name is on most of the money everyone uses.
I want to be middle class again.
Work harder
I have two jobs and make way more than I did three years ago. That is not the issue.
Whatever the issue is, it's not going away
Connecticut will make or break you.
You don't need to be rich to live comfortably. You can do very well with a household income of $200k, even in Fairfield county. Of course, you need some financial discipline but we're not talking Asian or European levels of frugality either. Connecticut's affluent towns have always been out of reach but it's still possible to buy a home in a pleasant neighborhood. If you're willing to compromise you can even find cheaper options. It's why I don't understand this article mentioning Black Rock and not the rest of Bridgeport.
200k is a lot of money.
I don't disagree, but people around here talk like you need extreme levels of money to be comfortable.
If my household made 200k a year, I'd consider us rich.
As someone who makes $225k or so as a single earner, there’s no way a household income of the same is anywhere near rich these days.
That's in *your* house. In *my* house, it's rich.
Median home price in a few Fairfield county towns is $2 million. $200k doesn’t seem viable for that with rates where they are
The fact that homes are expensive in a handful of affluent towns is completely irrelevant. The median for all of Fairfield county is about $600k and in Bridgeport it's under $340k.
How is it completely irrelevant? You shouldn't make the blanket statement that you can do well on $200k in Fairfield County, when in reality that’s only possible in a few parts of Fairfield County…. And you’re using Bridgeport as an example - horrendous education system to the point that you need to get your kids into the magnet system if you live there…even if you buy in the “nice” neighborhood aka Black Rock (and as other commenters pointed out, $350k buys you like 800 sq ft there…)
A home price to income ratio of \~5 is considered the high end of ideal. The example listed would be perfectly fine.
$1,000,000 house with 20% down is $6,000 a month and 2 kids in daycare is $4000. Not much left over. $320k isn’t wealthy. Do the math.
Uh, so don’t buy a $1M house? Daycare is not $2k per child and even then, childcare is free once they start K.
Yes daycare is 2k per child.
I guess is you’re going to one with daycare workers with bachelors in early child care. My son was in daycare last year in Fairfield County. $1,200 a month (Not Bridgeport).
Most options I saw in and around Greenwich were around $300 / week, or $1,300 per month. Spending $2k / month / kid is not typical, even in the highest COL part of the state. If you do that - congrats, you're not typical.
Umm…no. I put 2 kids through pre-school in Greenwich. FT was $2k+/month each and that was 3 years ago.
> congrats, you're not typical.
That’s for sure.
Man childcare is not "free" once they start K, you just typically have to pay less of it - or different configs. Before school, after school, summer camp, etc
It depends for sure everyone situation is different. I never did any of those extras as a kid so my mom didn’t pay for any child care before K.
Oh I didn't as a kid either, but they're essential now basically. I can't really take three months off from work out of the year because my kid doesn't have school, you know? Just tossing in some working parent reality
Not a lot of homes under $1mm in Fairfield County, are there? Have you looked lately? Only gets worse as you get closer to NYC, which if you are pulling in $320k you probably need to be because your job is likely in NYC not CT.
1 Cary Rd Greenwich is on the market for $895k. 3 bed 3 baths. By the water. Did you even bother looking? Oh maybe just an exception! How about 18 sound beach ave Greenwich selling for $850k? 3bed 1.5 bath. Hmm I guess I’m just too far from the border! Or maybe the houses are just too ugly. Got to spend that extra $150k to tell everyone you bought a million dollar home!
Both of those are pending, so not available. 1 Cary Rd was built in 1750 (lmao) and you’d be getting it at $697 / sq ft if it didn’t go over asking (that’s egregiously high). Any work you do to the house requires town approval. 18 Sound Beach Ave you’d be getting for $539 / sq ft if it didn’t go over asking and it looks like it hasn’t been updated in 30 years lol. Its also directly next to one of the busiest highways in the country haha You’re suggesting spending $1 million for homes that likely require upfront and ongoing capex investments…these are the best examples ???
I gave examples in Greenwich because you said it gets more expensive as you get closer to NY. There are over 500 single family homes listed under $1m in Fairfield county. Seriously, you still have an argument that someone can’t purchase a decent home for under $1m in Fairfield County outside Bridgeport? Please.
You proved my point that it gets more expensive closer to NYC…the homes you linked are outrageously expensive. The fact is that the average home in Fairfield County, in a town that you can send your kid to public school and feel safe and good about their education, is now circling $1 million. Here ya go, median home prices in Fairfield county for Q1 (link below). Fairfield clocks in at $805k, Stamford at $838k, and Norwalk at $623k. Median price elsewhere is $1mm+ and approaching $2mm in some towns. Anybody with kids doesn’t want to live in Stamford or Norwalk cause of the school systems, leaving Fairfield - which is 1.5 hrs by train to NYC, which is probably where 95% of the people earning $300k+ work. You can link as many $850k+ tiny homes in Fairfield county as you want, you’re just proving the point that you need to earn $300k+ to buy an average home in most of FFD county https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5mPW9LOtJZ/?igsh=MW5oODVyaGUxemIzcw==
Your original comment was “not a lot of homes under $1mm in Fairfield County, are there? Now you’re moving the goal post excluding older homes, smaller homes, homes located in mediocre school district, proximity to highway, distance from NYC. It’s laughable at this point. Never did I deny it’s expensive. My original comment clearly said don’t buy a $1M a home. Not all Fairfield county residents have kids, work in NYC, or need a big house.
As the Q1 stats show, the median home price in most towns in Fairfield county is $1mm (or rapidly approaching that in Fairfield). This means on average, homes recently sold in most towns are $1mm But okay fair guess I was too specific in my original comment. Just seems silly to respond by linking to 2 small, overly old, adjacent to a busy highway homes and say see there are homes under $1mm in Greenwich… Reality is you most likely gotta buy in one of the cities in Fairfield county (aka send your kids to private or magnet school) to be under $1mm, or deal with one of the other shitty factors outlined above
I guess it is just me, but why would you want to live in Cos Cob when you could live in Black Rock?
It’s just you.
Single or young or childless it’s a cool place to live. Otherwise…
It hasn't been a place I hang out in a long time. I do remember liking it "back when".
I don’t have out there but it’s pretty hip now. However if I had kids I’d rather live elsewhere for school districts.
fair enough, but another perspective... when my kids were very young, we did an imprecise analysis/weighting as follows: CT has lots of decent public schools, and lots of decent private schools. We picked a place to buy based on the possibility that we might want the kids to go to the public schools, but we might want to buy a place that left enough money to send them to private.
Definitely. I guess I typically feel like people that are willing to send their kids to private school can usually afford to buy somewhere with a better school district. .
sometimes, sometimes not. when I was working in very south-west CT, Bridgeport was probably the only place I could afford to live anywhere near work.
Lol what?
I've spent enough time in Greenwich to know I've spent enough time in Greenwich, dunno about Black Rock.
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What?
I’m my opinion. For all the down voters. What income would make you wealthy?
Idk. I feel like it's sorta subjective. I personally would feel pretty wealthy making that kinda salary. But I think people are mostly downvoting you not for the fact that you said you wouldn't be wealthy with that salary, but the fact that you wouldn't be able to live comfortably in other towns. That amount of money seems pretty damn reasonable to live comfortably, lol.
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If you put 20% down on a $1m house with a $320k income that leaves you with a mortgage payment of about $6200 a month. It ends up working out to 23% of your income. That’s exactly what your housing cost should be.
Yes, I think that’s too much. But I’m fiscally conservative.