Elevated inflation is sapping workers’ buying power across the country, the report also found. Credit: Artem Bali
The average San Antonio-area worker is a long way off from living comfortably, according to new research from Credit Card blog Upgraded Points.
A single resident of the SA metro with no spouse or children needs $93,355 to live comfortably, according to Upgraded Points’ report. However, the median personal income here is less than half that.
Worse still, San Antonio ranks as the eighth-most-affordable metro to live in, but locals just aren’t being paid enough to enjoy the high life.
The study analyzed which metros were the most affordable by using data from the Economic Policy Institute’s Family Budget Calculator to determine the cost of living in U.S. cities. Researchers at Upgraded Points then used the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2024 American Community Survey to determine median wages.
The report then applied the 50/30/20 rule — or the notion that 50% of income should go to necessities, 30% to discretionary spending and 20% to savings and debt payments — to determine what qualified as “living comfortably.”
In San Antonio, most families aren’t living comfortably, the report found.
For example, two Alamo City adults with no kids would need to bring home $122,000 annually to pay their bills and still have something left to splurge a bit. That number jumps to a whopping $200,000 for a family of four.
That’s about $33,000 less for a family of four than the national average. Yet the average family of four in our metro only pulls in a median income of $99,000.
Researchers at Upgraded Points blamed elevated inflation and the rapid spread of AI in the workplace for the rampant inequality locally and nationally.
The most expensive metro to live comfortably in was San Jose, California, where a single adult needs $163,000 annually for a cozy existence.
Meanwhile, an adult can live comfortably in Cleveland, Pittsburgh or Tucson the nation’s least-expensive large metros — for $87,000 yearly, the report said.
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