Here’s how much money you need to earn to ‘live comfortably’ in Arizona

Ask someone how much a single person needs to earn to live a comfortable life in Arizona and you’re going to get a lot of different answers. One person’s comfort is another person’s penny-pinching. Some people can’t sleep at night without squirreling away half their paycheck. Others rack up credit card debt at 23.5% and trust that the universe will watch out for them. Good luck with that.

But clearly you’re not satisfied with vagaries. You prefer a hard and fast number. So here’s one, for a single person. To get by in Arizona mostly stress-free, while still having some fun, you should tell your boss you need a cool $80,000. 

That’s per a study published by Wealthvieu, and it’s right on par with the national average. In Arizona, like the rest of America, life is cheap but living is expensive.

The personal finance site defined “living comfortably” as covering your essential bills without stress while saving for retirement and emergencies and also having some fun money left over. Here that means bringing in about $6,667 a month, half of which goes to essentials. Arizona’s baseline salary was the 23rd-highest on the list. Hawaii topped the list at an eye-popping $135,000. Meanwhile your dollar goes furthest in Arkansas, West Virginia and Mississippi: $68,000 gets you by in those states.

For many, these figures are aspirational. The study notes that no state actually has a median household income high enough to live comfortably, let alone individual income. And Arizona is no exception. The median household income in Arizona is just shy of $80K, according to census data. 

If you happen to be one of those #blessed single individuals earning enough to live comfortably, Wealthvieu has some ideas on how you should budget.

Fifty percent of your income should go toward “needs.” Your rent or your mortgage and homeowners’ insurance should make up about 21% of this. The rest is divided up between groceries, utilities, phone and internet, transportation, health insurance, any minimum debt payments you have or other line items that are “essential.” 

Then sock away 20% into savings. Wealthvieu recommends putting 13% in a retirement account such as a 401(k) or an IRA. Then stash a few dollars for an emergency or rainy day fund. You don’t want a leaky radiator or root canal or broken phone to wreck your finances. 

With the other 30%, have some fun. Get a gym membership, download GTA 5, take your boo to Bisbee for a weekend. Or, y’know, pay off that credit card debt. You know you want to.