Gen Zers were asked if they find a 'salary of $75,000 a year to be poor' — their responses expose reality of living in America
With inflation and rising cost of living, a sufficient salary for the current generations might look drastically different from when boomers and Gen X started working. However, what counts as 'enough' can vary based on a person's lifestyle, where they live, and more. A Gen Z, u/NoHousing11, asked people about their perspective on whether a $75k a year salary can be considered poor or not and shared two X posts that explained two different perspectives on the same. The responses u/NoHousing11 got were baffling.
In the first X post, a person quoted a 'random MSNBC Ghoul' and wrote, 'To young people, free healthcare, college debt forgiveness sounds good to them. Think about it, you are out of college, 25 or 26 years old, working your first job, earning 75,000 or 80,000 a year, that kind of thing appeals to them, I guess." Another person pointed out the flaw in the thinking and how the reality of most Gen Z is far more different than the post about $75,000 a year seeming insufficient. "Imagine being so rich that $75k,000 is what you think poor people earn. Straight up evil." They added, "$75k is a fantasy amount of money to me. I can't even imagine what it's like to make that much money a year."
"Do you consider a salary of $75,000 to be poor?" u/NoHousing11 asked users and many people shared their opinions in the comments section. While some people felt that $75k would mean living paycheck to paycheck if a person was living in one of the bigger cities in America, it could support a decent living in the smaller places. Others felt that $75k is a sufficient amount for living in any U.S. state.
u/StinkySauk wrote, "If you have a roommate in NYC, and don’t have a car, you probably don’t have a lot of other expenses. You could probably save a good amount by making $75k in NYC. There are people making 20$ or even less living in Manhattan. You and I might argue that their living conditions are less than ideal, but unlike a lot of suburbs, places like NYC do give you more options for living frugally. In the area I live in, 95% of the housing supply is 1-bedroom starting at 650sqft. I could live with a lot less, but I basically have no choice but to pay for a bunch of space I don’t need, unless I wanted roommates, which I don’t." u/Rude-Illustrator-884 remarked, "It depends on your area and how financially independent you are. Where I’m at, a single person making less than $80k is considered low income and probably this year they’re going to up it to $83k. If you live in an HCOL area and have to pay every single one of your bills, then yes, you might be considered struggling."
u/Rularuu commented, "People always talk about NYC like you have to be well into the six figures or you might as well be homeless. There are like 8 million people here. Rent is certainly expensive and taxes are certainly high, but I get by just fine on a pretty modest salary for anywhere in the US, as do most of my peers. When I read about people who make $100k and complain about living 'paycheck to paycheck' in NYC, it's usually because they have richer friends, so they are trying to live way beyond their means and experience all the amenities that are made for the actually wealthy class. They want to go to nice restaurants, see Broadway shows, take taxis everywhere, etc." u/jamespopcorn_46 added, "Depends on the area. NYC? Yes. Nebraska? No." u/Strange-Payment5738 chimed in, "Everyone saying depends on the area is right, in New York I doubt you could order takeout on this salary, while in Iowa or Arkansas you'd be living decently."