Maya (a pseudonym) lives in East Atlanta. The 41-year-old makes $95,000 a year as a senior financial analyst, she says she’d feel more comfortable with a $45,000 raise. Her splurge is a beauty treatment—a Botox subscription at $40 a month—but she lives without other luxuries that she’d like to have: regular manicures and name-brand food. Groceries and transportation are some of her highest monthly expenses, at $600 each.
Job title
Senior financial analyst
Age
41
Neighborhood
East Atlanta
Lives with
Alone
Annual gross income
$95,000
Mortgage payment
$1,425
Original purchase date and price of home
$249,000 in 2017
Debt (student loans, credit card)
$3,900
Health insurance and prescriptions
$100
Phone plan and monthly subscriptions (Netflix, Spotify, food delivery services, apps, etc.)
$100
Utilities
$300
Transportation (car payment, car insurance, gas, public transportation, Uber)
$600
Groceries
$600
Restaurants, fast food, drinks at bars, coffees
$100
Childcare costs
$0
How much does she save each month?
$1,850
How much does she have in savings/401(k)?
$320,000
Vacations
$8,000 per year
Fun (concerts, books, movies, recreational drugs, etc.)
$200
Clothes/beauty (new shoes, laundromat services, makeup)
$100
How much money would she need to live comfortably in Atlanta? What hourly rate or annual salary would she be happy with?
$140,000 a year
Nonessential item that she treats herself to
Botox subscription at $40 a month
What she’d like to have but lives without
Salon haircuts, manicures, name-brand food
Her take on what can be done to improve the cost of living in Atlanta
More remote work, lower alcohol/sin taxes, requirements for corporations to pay liveable wages if you are required to work in person
Most challenging thing about living in Atlanta
Traffic and segregation
What she loves most about Atlanta
Lots of food options
