This is how much single people in Colorado need to earn to ‘live comfortably’

DENVER (KDVR) — Based on a new study, you need a larger salary than many other U.S. cities to live comfortably in Colorado – even if you don’t have a spouse or kids.

SmartAsset conducted a study to find what people living in large cities need to make in order to live comfortably.

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The study used a 50/30/20 budget, which suggests 50% of the salary should be used for needs, like housing, groceries and transportation, while 30% goes toward wants like entertainment and hobbies and 20% toward paying off debt, saving or investing. The budget reflects the pre-tax salary needed to sustain this.

The study calculated the budget for the top 99 largest cities in the nation. Here’s where three Colorado cities placed on the list. The higher the ranking, the more money is needed to live comfortably.

Salary needed to live comfortably in Colorado cities

Nationally, the average individual needs $96,500 for sustainable comfort in major cities, according to the study. But in Colorado, it takes a little more.

Out of the three Colorado cities in this study, both Denver and Aurora needed wages more than the national average, and Colorado Springs is just under the national average.

Aurora ranks No. 18 out of the top 99 largest cities in the nation for the highest wage needed to live comfortably.

Aurora is not too far off from the city that needs the highest salary to live comfortably – New York City. The study says people in the city need an hourly wage of $66.62 and a salary of almost $140,000 to live comfortably.

While the comfortable wage across large Colorado cities is over $45 an hour, the Colorado minimum wage is currently $14.42 and in Denver, it’s $18.29.

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