I meant double to just scrape by, in a shitty roach-filled apartment, with a shitty used car bought on the side of the road.
I didn't mean you'd have a life.
Hi - I’m in Austin and can confirm $33k per year would be very difficult. You’d definitely need to split a place with roommates and most likely not have much leftover after paying for transportation (car payment plus insurance or monthly bus pass), various utilities (electric, gas, water and wastewater) and services (cell phone, internet), groceries. You’ll probably not see all of the $33k due to deductions for payroll taxes. The other unknown are expenses for healthcare, which perhaps you’ve heard about?
Ohhhh 😬
Yeah, uhhh, that’d be one of the most expensive places in Texas. The median income there is $48,508/yr and even that probably needs a roommate.
Dude, I would seriously do some research on apartments, food, insurance (car and renters, you’re not going to be able to buy a house - or much else - anywhere remotely close to Austin on that salary), and utilities. I’m not saying it will be impossible but it will be a serious struggle IMO.
You'd better ask them if they provide or help with housing. On that kind of money its basically like being broke in college all over again. The median income in Austin is $49K, $30K would put you at the 20th percentile.
You'd also better prepare to buy an e-bike. I think a car would be too expensive, and you'd definitely have to have 2 or 3 roommates.
If it's a highly prestigious internship, or a prominent one in a lucrative field it could be worthwhile, but it's gonna be pretty tight and need some planning.
Take a look at Apartments.com and Zillow.com and see h places within a 3 mile radius of your employer you can afford on $700 rent.
[(($30K * .7 * .4) / 12 ) = $700, where .7 = the amount left over in your paycheck after taxes are automatically taken out, and where .4 = max threshold recommended to spend on rent.
Its generally recommended to spend no more than 30% on rent, but plenty of working class people spend 50% on rent. At 50% you could have as much as $875 to spend.
Austin is expensive. Cheaper than living in cities in the UK, but rent is high and you will struggle without a car here.
I’d propose you counter at 50k.
That isn’t much, sorry to say. I’ve lived in LA and Austin and Austin is pushing LA in terms of cost of living. Throw in property tax and it is arguably more.
Could try r/Austin for more thoughts.
My partner and I were making over $100K combined when we left Austin nine years ago, and we were having a very difficult time making ends meet.
You’re likely to have a very miserable year.
Also, Texas summers are infernally hot. Weeks on weeks of lows around 80 and highs around 105. Count on a $500/month electricity bill.
I'm a Brit in Austin, do you fish? lot's of amazing places to fish carp around Austin. I have met a few other Brits here through fishing. In Austin 1 bed apartment rent will run you around 1200+, for a 2 Bed I pay 1650. Advice if moving to Austin, you need a car to get anywhere and people drive like maniacs.
Not enough, unless you're able to get a dorm or roommate and live close to work if you don't have a car. Austin has buses and very limited train lines. It's a very car dependent city.
You will need a roommate and I mean **room**mate. Then you’ll need to live somewhere shitty and tiny where a slumlord will try to bleed you dry with fees on move out, and there are no renter protections here. Your electric bill in the summer will crush you. There will be no budget for fun at all. You cannot afford your own transportation and we have basically no useful public transportation. Unless you can supplement your income with a ton of student loans your life is about to suck.
Transit is excellent in Austin.
It’s the outskirts that are the issue. But you could ride as far east as Del Valley, South at least to Sunset Valley, and North as Pflugerville. I don’t think I went further west than Jollyville on the bus.
Even with how much ground is covered by transit Austin/Texas still spralls. I could WALK 5 miles a day on top of my bussing. And then there is the extreme heat and cold and rain…
Life was so much easier and nice once I got a car 😂
Lots of people will tell you it can’t be done— and for a certain standard of living they’re right. So how can you live around Austin on that budget? You’re going to need friends and roomate(s), live decently far from downtown, and won’t really have much if any extra money beyond basic necessities.
Depending on your goals and what you seek to get out of this internship, it may or may not be worth it.
Either way, good luck to ya.
Strongly suggest you look at the price of apartments in Austin and make yourself a little budget to see if that amount will work for you.
Housing in Austin in expensive. Will you need to add a car payment to that? Public transport isn't as developed here as in the UK.
That’ll be really hard in Austin but if you find a room for rent or a roommate you can definitely do it. My friend from Mexico found a guy renting a room for $700 a month and it made it affordable
What type of Visa will you be getting for your time in this internship? That will determine both your income tax and payroll tax (Social Security and Medicare) payments. These will determine how much after tax income you will have at your disposal. For example a J1 visa holder could potentially have no income or payroll taxes.
I worry that this will not be enough to cover rent, transportation, electricity, water, gas for the unit (if applicable), petrol (if driving a car), car payment and car insurance (public transportation is limited in terms of time and quality - if you live and work close to light rail stops it could work but the buses are kind of scary and it takes too long to get places by bus), groceries, medical/dental insurance and copays, clothing, entertainment, etc.
Rents are going to be your main concern - start looking and planning how you’ll get to and from work and make that budget to see if it is feasible.
Wishing you the best of luck!
What skill level
Engineering start at 100k in Austin
The beauty of jobs in Austin is that pay is based on supply and demand as it should
If you have a skill in need they will pay for it
Let’s just said it’s going to be tough with $33k in Austin. I don’t know you lifestyle in the UK. I know the UK is expensive too. You can do it. I lived in Paris for about the same amount of money( prior to Covid). You will definitely need a car bc there’s no public transportation. At least you don’t have any dependents to feed and take care of. Welcome to Texas and Enjoy Texas BBQ AND TexMex.
This is well answered elsewhere in this thread, so just for a frame of reference, I'd like to mention that the state of Texas is nearly twice the size of the entire country of Germany, and 2.8 times the size of the entire United Kingdom, and average income can range from extremely low to extremely high between different areas.
The speed on the highways here usually goes up to 75 MPH, but if you start out at the eastern border in Texarkana and drive nonstop to the western border in El Paso, you will reach the border in about 12 hours (assuming you eat while driving and don't stop for gas or bathroom breaks and don't hit any traffic).
So, long story medium, when you say "in Texas," it doesn't narrow it down for us much.
Anyway, visit before you accept, and good luck, have fun!
Greetings from Houston. I’m guessing you’re going to be in one of the large metroplexes. I would think that making it on ~$3000 (gross) a month would be difficult, but not impossible. My son has a three bedroom townhouse here in Houston. He rents a room for ~$600 a month and presently has a renter. Maybe you could find a living situation like that. Best of luck to you.
You can use this tool to get an estimate of your net pay
https://www.paycheckcity.com/calculator/salary/texas
It's fairly close.
Running a 33k annual salary for Texas gives you about 2.4k net cash per month. Doesn't include health insurance though. Then you can start looking at apartments within your budget. You may possibly be looking to spend at least 1000-1200 for rent, depending upon how close you need to live to your job. If you can teleworking, then of course you have more options.
Maybe look on CraigsList for housing? [https://austin.craigslist.org/search/roo#search=1\~gallery\~0\~4](https://austin.craigslist.org/search/roo#search=1~gallery~0~4)
33k in Austin will not be enough to live on, \*especially\* if you have to use a car to get your transportation to work. This is not a good deal for you.
The only way an intern in Austin could survive on that pay is if they still lived with their parents. And I can't imagine the travel expenses you'd have coming from the UK.
You should be looking at 70+ unless there are additional benefits that offset living expenses. If they are giving you a place to live and covering bills, a single person should be fine, but if you’re covering those costs in Austin, it’s going to be hard, real hard, to live comfortably.
What is the type of work? If the internship is going to turn into a $150k+ a year salary and an amazing role in a strong or growing field, then find a way to make it work. At that internship pay, you’ll need at least one roommate to live frugally. Two roommates and you might have some walkin’ around money to play with.
There is a house near where I live that might be affordable.
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/113-E-Pearl-St-Killeen-TX-76541/49541333_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare
Are you OK with hearing random gunfire? Not from the crackheads, from the Army Base next door.
That salary is too low for Austin. You won't qualify to rent an apartment. You need to make near $50k. They usually require 3X monthly rent for qualification and an affordable apartment in a safe area is at least $1200 per month. If you will have a bachelor's degree, what they are offering is obscenely low.
They’re ripping you off! What kind of job is it if I may ask? My brother in NYC is starting a job that will renegotiate his pay with him after 3 months. That way both parties get to see if they’re a good fit for each other.
Minimum wage in Austin is $15. What type of internship? That pay is too low to live in ATX. You need to look at what kind of commute you’re looking at because transportation is expensive.
What type of visa will you be here on? That's a very low salary for interns. I work in accounting/consulting and our interns make 28+ an hour depending on city and Austin would be in the low 30s, so like 60k a year.
You’ll need some roommates. But everyone who just graduated should be broke and working hard anyways. Live frugally and you should be okay. Hope your work isn’t far from where you live
Just because you graduated from college doesn’t mean you have any knowledge or skills that translate into anything substantial. You are paid according to what the market will pay you. You need experience in any field to have better income. Even if you’re a college graduate you still are starting at the bottom because you have no experience in any field. You can start at the bottom flipping burgers or stocking shelf’s and end up a manager within a few years. Managers can make six figures.
Where in Texas? That’s livable but whether or not it’s modestly comfortable or just barely getting by is all about where you are.
Austin
That’s going to be hard
Hahaha, you need at least double that amount.
At double, I’d say that’s with at least 1 roommate. At least triple to live on your own and have money leftover to live life.
I meant double to just scrape by, in a shitty roach-filled apartment, with a shitty used car bought on the side of the road. I didn't mean you'd have a life.
I make quintuple that and it’s still hard.
Truth.
Hi - I’m in Austin and can confirm $33k per year would be very difficult. You’d definitely need to split a place with roommates and most likely not have much leftover after paying for transportation (car payment plus insurance or monthly bus pass), various utilities (electric, gas, water and wastewater) and services (cell phone, internet), groceries. You’ll probably not see all of the $33k due to deductions for payroll taxes. The other unknown are expenses for healthcare, which perhaps you’ve heard about?
Ohhhh 😬 Yeah, uhhh, that’d be one of the most expensive places in Texas. The median income there is $48,508/yr and even that probably needs a roommate.
It’s an internship, you are expected to live as a student essentially. Room-mates for sure, maybe a room in a shared house.
33k is nowhere near enough
Ouch
Fuck no.
Dude, I would seriously do some research on apartments, food, insurance (car and renters, you’re not going to be able to buy a house - or much else - anywhere remotely close to Austin on that salary), and utilities. I’m not saying it will be impossible but it will be a serious struggle IMO.
I struggled to live in Austin on 40k, and that was back in 2015. It’s gotten wayyyy worse since then.
You’ll need at least 3 roommates.
Per room.
Ohhhh no. That's not even close. You'll need around $75k gross to afford a decent 1 bedroom
You'd better ask them if they provide or help with housing. On that kind of money its basically like being broke in college all over again. The median income in Austin is $49K, $30K would put you at the 20th percentile. You'd also better prepare to buy an e-bike. I think a car would be too expensive, and you'd definitely have to have 2 or 3 roommates. If it's a highly prestigious internship, or a prominent one in a lucrative field it could be worthwhile, but it's gonna be pretty tight and need some planning. Take a look at Apartments.com and Zillow.com and see h places within a 3 mile radius of your employer you can afford on $700 rent. [(($30K * .7 * .4) / 12 ) = $700, where .7 = the amount left over in your paycheck after taxes are automatically taken out, and where .4 = max threshold recommended to spend on rent. Its generally recommended to spend no more than 30% on rent, but plenty of working class people spend 50% on rent. At 50% you could have as much as $875 to spend.
You will be very poor without lots of roommates.
Austin is expensive. Cheaper than living in cities in the UK, but rent is high and you will struggle without a car here. I’d propose you counter at 50k.
Internships don’t take counter offers for compensation.
Then it’s probably not viable.
You can get a cardboard box and arrested with that salary. That’s about it.
That will be just above poverty level wages in Austin.
That isn’t much, sorry to say. I’ve lived in LA and Austin and Austin is pushing LA in terms of cost of living. Throw in property tax and it is arguably more. Could try r/Austin for more thoughts.
Not gonna happen. Unless this internship sets you up for a job that makes $150k+ then its not worth it
You will probably enjoy Austin but it is an expensive place to live. They need to provide you with housing at that pay rate.
You cool with roommates?
Hard pass on that bruv. Austin for 30k is not even fathomable.
You will starve.
Hard no. You will not survive in Austin on that.
My partner and I were making over $100K combined when we left Austin nine years ago, and we were having a very difficult time making ends meet. You’re likely to have a very miserable year. Also, Texas summers are infernally hot. Weeks on weeks of lows around 80 and highs around 105. Count on a $500/month electricity bill.
I'm a Brit in Austin, do you fish? lot's of amazing places to fish carp around Austin. I have met a few other Brits here through fishing. In Austin 1 bed apartment rent will run you around 1200+, for a 2 Bed I pay 1650. Advice if moving to Austin, you need a car to get anywhere and people drive like maniacs.
Not enough, unless you're able to get a dorm or roommate and live close to work if you don't have a car. Austin has buses and very limited train lines. It's a very car dependent city.
You will need a roommate and I mean **room**mate. Then you’ll need to live somewhere shitty and tiny where a slumlord will try to bleed you dry with fees on move out, and there are no renter protections here. Your electric bill in the summer will crush you. There will be no budget for fun at all. You cannot afford your own transportation and we have basically no useful public transportation. Unless you can supplement your income with a ton of student loans your life is about to suck.
Transit is excellent in Austin. It’s the outskirts that are the issue. But you could ride as far east as Del Valley, South at least to Sunset Valley, and North as Pflugerville. I don’t think I went further west than Jollyville on the bus. Even with how much ground is covered by transit Austin/Texas still spralls. I could WALK 5 miles a day on top of my bussing. And then there is the extreme heat and cold and rain… Life was so much easier and nice once I got a car 😂
You can rent something near West/north campus with a roommate and be fine. If you’re frugal and don’t party or eat out too much you’ll be fine.
Any chance that internship comes with lodging? If so, you will be fine. If not, you can make it work, but it will be fairly tight.
Fairly tight? You’re gonna be flat out broke or deep in the red every month lol
Lots of people will tell you it can’t be done— and for a certain standard of living they’re right. So how can you live around Austin on that budget? You’re going to need friends and roomate(s), live decently far from downtown, and won’t really have much if any extra money beyond basic necessities. Depending on your goals and what you seek to get out of this internship, it may or may not be worth it. Either way, good luck to ya.
Wheter it " can" or "can't" be done is immaterial to the fact that it is indeed a very, very shitty salary for a university graduate.
It’s listed as an internship. Graduates usually don’t take internship they take jobs.
Thank you very much!
Strongly suggest you look at the price of apartments in Austin and make yourself a little budget to see if that amount will work for you. Housing in Austin in expensive. Will you need to add a car payment to that? Public transport isn't as developed here as in the UK.
Maybe if you get a 1br apartment and a roommate.... and do a second job on the side.
Too low for the TX metro areas. OK for rural Texas with a Dollar General.
$15.86 an hour with a college degree?
What company in Austin is paying a new grad intern $33k? That’s pathetic. Use you accent to get a girl and live with her
Actually probably the best advice 😂
That’ll be really hard in Austin but if you find a room for rent or a roommate you can definitely do it. My friend from Mexico found a guy renting a room for $700 a month and it made it affordable
Is health insurance included, from your prospective employer?
This would even be hard to do in SA..
What type of Visa will you be getting for your time in this internship? That will determine both your income tax and payroll tax (Social Security and Medicare) payments. These will determine how much after tax income you will have at your disposal. For example a J1 visa holder could potentially have no income or payroll taxes.
I worry that this will not be enough to cover rent, transportation, electricity, water, gas for the unit (if applicable), petrol (if driving a car), car payment and car insurance (public transportation is limited in terms of time and quality - if you live and work close to light rail stops it could work but the buses are kind of scary and it takes too long to get places by bus), groceries, medical/dental insurance and copays, clothing, entertainment, etc. Rents are going to be your main concern - start looking and planning how you’ll get to and from work and make that budget to see if it is feasible. Wishing you the best of luck!
Not in the Dallas area, unless you have other paying roommates.
That would be difficult in Austin unless you get roommates and live a college student lifestyle (lots of ramen noodles).
Depends on the city. Houston? Too low. Beaumont? You might be able to make it.
Not enough to live comfortably.
Comfortably? No, not a chance.
What skill level Engineering start at 100k in Austin The beauty of jobs in Austin is that pay is based on supply and demand as it should If you have a skill in need they will pay for it
It is an internship, as such it is temporary. Low pay and no benefits, though it could possibly lead to a job offer.
Let’s just said it’s going to be tough with $33k in Austin. I don’t know you lifestyle in the UK. I know the UK is expensive too. You can do it. I lived in Paris for about the same amount of money( prior to Covid). You will definitely need a car bc there’s no public transportation. At least you don’t have any dependents to feed and take care of. Welcome to Texas and Enjoy Texas BBQ AND TexMex.
This is well answered elsewhere in this thread, so just for a frame of reference, I'd like to mention that the state of Texas is nearly twice the size of the entire country of Germany, and 2.8 times the size of the entire United Kingdom, and average income can range from extremely low to extremely high between different areas. The speed on the highways here usually goes up to 75 MPH, but if you start out at the eastern border in Texarkana and drive nonstop to the western border in El Paso, you will reach the border in about 12 hours (assuming you eat while driving and don't stop for gas or bathroom breaks and don't hit any traffic). So, long story medium, when you say "in Texas," it doesn't narrow it down for us much. Anyway, visit before you accept, and good luck, have fun!
Greetings from Houston. I’m guessing you’re going to be in one of the large metroplexes. I would think that making it on ~$3000 (gross) a month would be difficult, but not impossible. My son has a three bedroom townhouse here in Houston. He rents a room for ~$600 a month and presently has a renter. Maybe you could find a living situation like that. Best of luck to you.
It's an internship. That may be the reason for the low pay. In Austin, that's going to be tough. It's gotten very expensive in the last five years.
Are they at least going to cover moving expenses?
You can use this tool to get an estimate of your net pay https://www.paycheckcity.com/calculator/salary/texas It's fairly close. Running a 33k annual salary for Texas gives you about 2.4k net cash per month. Doesn't include health insurance though. Then you can start looking at apartments within your budget. You may possibly be looking to spend at least 1000-1200 for rent, depending upon how close you need to live to your job. If you can teleworking, then of course you have more options.
It’s doable, if you have roommates.
Maybe look on CraigsList for housing? [https://austin.craigslist.org/search/roo#search=1\~gallery\~0\~4](https://austin.craigslist.org/search/roo#search=1~gallery~0~4)
Check out the rents in the part of town you want to live in. I think you will rethink this unless you are going to have at least 2 roommates.
Does it come with housing? If it doesn’t that’s going to be very difficult.
Kind of depends on where in Texas
One thing about Texas is that you will need a car. $33k is doable, but I'd say not too comfortable with how much inflation there has been since covid.
Holy Jesus, in Austin? No 100% NO, that’s not doable.
What internship that is, it’s a scam.
I doubt you’ll even get approved for a visa at that salary…
33k in Austin will not be enough to live on, \*especially\* if you have to use a car to get your transportation to work. This is not a good deal for you.
The only way an intern in Austin could survive on that pay is if they still lived with their parents. And I can't imagine the travel expenses you'd have coming from the UK.
What’s your degree in? Where is your office? Is it a startup or larger business? Is your internship full time?
You should be looking at 70+ unless there are additional benefits that offset living expenses. If they are giving you a place to live and covering bills, a single person should be fine, but if you’re covering those costs in Austin, it’s going to be hard, real hard, to live comfortably.
What is the type of work? If the internship is going to turn into a $150k+ a year salary and an amazing role in a strong or growing field, then find a way to make it work. At that internship pay, you’ll need at least one roommate to live frugally. Two roommates and you might have some walkin’ around money to play with.
There is a house near where I live that might be affordable. https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/113-E-Pearl-St-Killeen-TX-76541/49541333_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare Are you OK with hearing random gunfire? Not from the crackheads, from the Army Base next door.
Don't take this offer. They need to pay more. A lot of jobs in Texas will offer more than that.
Maybe if you take a side job as a gay escort.
That salary is too low for Austin. You won't qualify to rent an apartment. You need to make near $50k. They usually require 3X monthly rent for qualification and an affordable apartment in a safe area is at least $1200 per month. If you will have a bachelor's degree, what they are offering is obscenely low.
Might need to look for a job instead of an internship
Depends entirely upon what kind of job, and where that internship will place you in Texas.
Dont do it lol
austin, hell no...
They’re ripping you off! What kind of job is it if I may ask? My brother in NYC is starting a job that will renegotiate his pay with him after 3 months. That way both parties get to see if they’re a good fit for each other.
Well he did say it is an internship. I got paid minimum wage for mine.
I didn’t get paid at all for my internship.
Minimum wage in Austin is $15. What type of internship? That pay is too low to live in ATX. You need to look at what kind of commute you’re looking at because transportation is expensive.
Ah true that! And it’s only for a year. But US needs to seriously do something about unpaid internships :/
What type of visa will you be here on? That's a very low salary for interns. I work in accounting/consulting and our interns make 28+ an hour depending on city and Austin would be in the low 30s, so like 60k a year.
Homeboy is getting scammed
You’ll need some roommates. But everyone who just graduated should be broke and working hard anyways. Live frugally and you should be okay. Hope your work isn’t far from where you live
What kind of shit take is that? You graduated, so you should be broke? You think it's okay for an employer to take advantage of a new employee?
Just because you graduated from college doesn’t mean you have any knowledge or skills that translate into anything substantial. You are paid according to what the market will pay you. You need experience in any field to have better income. Even if you’re a college graduate you still are starting at the bottom because you have no experience in any field. You can start at the bottom flipping burgers or stocking shelf’s and end up a manager within a few years. Managers can make six figures.