If the cost of living in San Francisco sounds steep, you’ll need to add another $5,000 per year to your salary to move south. The highest household income needed to live comfortably as a family of four in America can be found in San Jose, California, at $371,571. This is more than $100,000 higher than the national median combined income of $200,000, according to SmartAsset.

Single adults will need to earn $147,430 year, which is roughly $71.00 per hour. For certain industries, that’s achievable – think tech, management, architecture and engineering, law, and medicine. But for others it's a pipe dream, as the city's typical hourly wage was just $54.68 in 2023. While this figure is enough for a single adult to live comfortably in most of the cities on this list, it won't quite cut it in the Bay Area!

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What Living 'Comfortably' in These 20 American Cities Will Cost You