US salary question
 

If your salary is some 60,000$ a year, how much do you have after taxes, health insurance, pension and other essential payments?
We were discussing this with a friend.:)

Here in Virginia I am paying about 60% of my total salary in Federal, State, County taxes.

What? Taxes alone? We have a progressive taxation and with 60,000$ you would pay some 30%.

Are you counting all your taxes or just federal income tax?

I interpreted the question to include all monies the governments take out of my pay.

I also earn more then 60K.

This exsample has all national and county taxes. There are goverment retirement and unemployment insurances also but it doesnt change the figure much, it stays between 30-40%.
This exsample doesnt include other incomes besides salary.

AT the current $-£ exchange rate I am on roughly $54,000 I pay 20% income tax and then National Insurance (Pays for NHS) on top of that which works out at maybe another 10%.. Then my local tax is about 5% of my income. According to an American friend of mine unless I was living in NY or DC $54,000 isn't a bad income at all.

That figure all depends on if you are married or not and how many children you have. and whether or not your wife makes money. 54k for a single man though is more than enough to live well.

$54,000 is more than twice as much as the best year I've ever had, and if I had a solid income of $27,000 I'd be sitting pretty. Maybe not own a home, but I could get by quite well on that much.

A pretty good rule of thumb for comparing UK/USA salaries is simply to count the pound equal to a dollar, ingnoring exchange rates. We have a higher cost of living, so the comparision is fair. £27k in the Uk is a good wage, and roughly equivalent to $27k.

Of course, the real key to financial security in both countries is to be married, as your combined income generates real spending power. Two people can't live as cheaply as one, but many living expenses are the same for single people and two living together - phone bills, household repairs/insurance etc. Two people also tend to waste less food, so two people under the same roof definitely save money in comparison to singles.

Threads like this often lead me to take a look at my finances, and the discrepancy between rich and poor in the UK seems massive. I earn between £40-50Kpa - a good wage, and my wife earns about £21k. My wages alone put us in the top 20% (just) in household income. Add my wife's to that and we are comfortably in that bracket. This always seems amazing to me, as although I'm well paid, I don't see my wages as fantastic.

The stats also state that if you are in that top household income zone, you are 15 times better off than the bottom 20%. See what I mean - that is a massive differential. I'm not a great fan of money per se, I have had to do without it many times in the past - and may yet do so again! However what I do like is the benefits it brings, in that you haven't got to check the bank account every time you want an international rugby ticket or a meal at a good restaurant. Best summary of that is the quote from Viv 'spend, spend spend' Nicolson:

'I've been happy rich and happy poor - happy rich is better!'

"Money may not buy happiness, but you can sure be miserable in a nice apartment."

Well said

As my father used to tell us: Rich or poor, it is always nice to have money.

Depend on if you pay a state tax. When i made 60K my take home was 48K in California.

Dang, when I paid taxes, I wish the tax rate had been so low:o