Pretty soon I will be paying approx. 35% of my net pay on an apartment (plus utilities) I will live in only 5 days a week. I will also be paying half the utilities on the house the rest of my family will be living in.
starting out your rent/living will be at least 1/3rd of your income (living in the bay area adds another layer to that). no big deal
goal is to drive that percentage down some 10-15 years from now but YMMV based on situation/living preferences. i was cool with living in crappy studio apartments til my mid 30s and then bought a home, but very few people could've suffered through that
Close to moving to a new place that's about 14% of my gross income. Try to keep it low because I freelance and there are dry spells where savings are really important.
These include utilities; I share a 2.5 bedroom place with my GF that we split 50/50. I never want to move, it's an older house but we have in-unit washer/dryer, a driveway with a garage, two decks, appliances in decent shape, and we live on a bike-path that leads to the subway in about a 15 minute walk/5 minute bike ride. For $2100/month in the Boston area it's a steal
But then again (at least in me and my wife's profession) it's pretty much fucked everywhere in the US except for California thanks to the presence of unions
If I was to pay for this apartment by myself it would be about 32% of my check each month. Fortunately, I have a gf and we live together. With our income combined it's about 13% per month. Cost of living here isn't bad at all, but I don't make much hourly and my gf is a school teacher, so we don't rake in the big bucks. However, we live in a good part of town. I'm sure we could find something cheaper.
When I first moved out, rent was 24% of my gross salary. My current mortgage is only 17%. Against net salary, my mortgage is about 26%.
I need to go through and re-budget to see what it all is with utilities, gas, and groceries included, but some really rough estimates seem to bump it all up to about 45% of my net salary.
Edit: Christ. I completely forgot about a car payment and student loans. Bump that up closer to 50%, I guess. I really should re-do my budget.
27 % of gross income. Living in Singapore though so rent is the main expenditure (no car and daily food is not so expensive). The idea of buying here is really off-putting when you see the sales prices for similar apartments. Even if I know I'm essentially flushing down my money.
I live in Copenhagen and I pay 58% of my income. The prices here are insane, especially if you have a dog. If I did not have a dog, I would get a similar apartment for around 44% of my income.