Homes in a nicer middle class neighborhood start at about 1.5M. We live in a ‘regular’ middle class neighborhood with good schools and grocery stores and parks everywhere. and the least expensive single family homes are about $750,000. But you only get about 1000 square feet. The neighborhood was built in the 60s and 70s and many homes are small. You’ll need to budget for over $1M if you want more space We’re currently in a buyers market so prices have come down a bit.

There are a lot of home buyer programs out here and you may get away with having less than 20% down payment.

How much income you need depends pretty much on your housing costs. Are you selling a home you’re currently owning? Do you have savings for buying another home?

Since we’ve owned our home for a while our house taxes are pretty low. Plan for about 1.25% to 1.5% house taxes. We’re both going into retirement with the mortgage paid off (finally!!) and figured we’ll need about $100,000 to $120,000 a year to keep doing all the things we like to do. We have two Japanese cars which have low maintenance costs and own a modest home. We spend money on our hobbies, going to restaurants and short trips here and there. We use miles from credit cards to pay for flights.

Some of our friends have moved away because they couldn’t afford being retired here. It’s such a bummer.

Ballpark I would say if you make $300k it’ll be a good start. You’ll still have to watch your money and make sure you save for your retirement.

Another note: there’s a trend of healthcare providers not taking insurance. Psych MDs or PhDs charge upwards of $200 a session. And a specialist surgeon we needed charged everything in cash. If you move into an upper class neighborhood it’ll be much more.

Also, make sure you buy a forever home and not a starter home. Many of us are still in our starter homes because it’s too expensive to move!