Survey: Twin Cities singles need $90K to live in comfort (2024)

MINNEAPOLIS — Are you a single adult living in the Twin Cities?

OK, but are you a single adult living comfortablyin the Twin Cities?

Side hustles aside, a new survey by SmartAsset shows Minneapolis and St. Paul singles need to make salaries equal to an average of $90,000 annually to reach (and remain in) their respective comfort zones.

Using the 50/30/20 budget plan, the study took several factors into consideration, including the ability to afford essentials like food, housing and transportation (50% of salary), while also being able to comfortably chip away at debt and invest in the future (20%). The final 30%, according to the survey, went toward allocating funds for nonessentials like entertainment and hobbies.

On a list of 99 U.S. cities, Minneapolis and St. Paul each landed in the middle of the annual salary scale — 48th and 31st, respectively. Specifically in Minneapolis, SmartAsset estimated singles would need to bring in about $45 per hour or $93,558 annually, while St. Paul singles would want an hourly rate of about $42 and an annual salary of $87,360.

Of course, the price goes up for families. For two working adults with two children who want to live comfortably in Minneapolis and St. Paul, SmartAsset found their joint-annual earnings should land somewhere within $261,914 and $256,589, respectively.

But is this $90,000 number accurate?

KARE 11 posted a poll on X (formerly Twitter) and more than 900 people responded.

According to the poll, 47.9% say $90,000 in Minneapolis seems about right, 18.2% say Minneapolis residents can get by with less than $90,000 and 33.9% say it all depends on how you spend your money.

"My first gut reaction was wow that's pretty high," financial advisor Grant Meyer says.

Grant Meyer from TruMix Advisors says it's important to understand how SmartAsset got to that $90,000 number.

The survey from SmartAsset used the MIT Living Wage Calculator to see how much a person needs to earn just to survive in more than 100 major U.S. cities.

For Minneapolis, that number is about $47,000. Meyer says the survey used that base number and followed a 50-30-20 rule.

With bare necessities being 50% of your budget, 30%for entertainment and hobbies, and the remaining 20% for savings, investing or to pay off debt.

The survey argues people who have enough money to follow that formula will not only have enough to live, but will also feel comfortable.

"The 50,30,20 rule that they use, it's a good starting point."

Meyer says their logic makes sense, but after the bare necessities are paid, does more money actually make you feel more comfortable?

"There is a saying more money more problems and it is not necessarily a false saying .We have clients who earn a large amount of money and many people may look at their income and think wow, they must have everything they want. They must have no money worries, no stress, they can do anything, but what's amazing is your expectations adjust to where you are in life."

Meyer says chasing a number like $90,000, people do it all the time, they look at what their neighbors have, what their friends have, and they feel this desperate need to keep up.

"We're inundated with marketing that tells us what we should buy and what we need to have to be happy and we're flipping through our phones on social media and we see these influencers doing all these great things," Meyer says.

But do you actually NEED those things to feel comfortable? Or happy?

Instead of chasing a number Meyer says think about the things that actually make you happy and chase that instead.

"Define what comfort means to you as a person. Look at the relationships in life and the fulfillment you get there because the money won't tell that or won't capture that."

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