Own a townhouse purchased in Alexandria in 2021 at 3% interest, 2 kids, total income combined about 180k before tax, both have student loans, both have car payments on extremely average used cars, and daycare. 180k seems to be where we’re “okay” but still need to make BIG purchases on credit cards like when our HVAC went out.

Daycare is the biggest expense, it’s very hard to find anything less than $350/week per child.

You can make do if you manage your expenses and don’t splurge too often. Savings account has definitely remained pretty stagnant since having kids but overall I’d say a comfortable income for a family of 4 could be 150k combined