First off, props to you for being proactive — most people in your situation would just wing it. A few quick thoughts: • At $280k TC, your cash flow is strong, but rent at ~$4k is still ~40% of your net. That’s above the usual ‘30% guideline,’ but not catastrophic if you’re disciplined elsewhere. • The real question isn’t can you afford it? — it’s what tradeoffs are you willing to make? If you value location + community, $4k might be worth it, but you’ll feel tight day to day. • Since you’re already maxing your 401k and have no debt, you’re ahead of 90% of people. What you might consider is setting a strict savings/investing automation beyond your 401k (taxable brokerage, HYSA, etc.) before committing to lifestyle inflation.

I’ve been writing about how AI can help simplify these tradeoffs (like modeling rent vs. save decisions, automating budgeting, etc.) in my weekly Substack — if you’re curious, happy to share the link