It's typically recommended that you buy a car worth no more than 35% of your gross annual income— so if you make $60k per year, you can afford a new car that is worth $21,000 or less.
Expert estimates range broadly. Greg McBride, a senior vice president, chief financial analyst at Bankrate.com, advises that a car payment should equal no more than 15 percent of your pretax monthly pay. That means that if you make $50,000 a year, your monthly car payment could be as much as $625.
The 50% rule
Some experts believe that spending 50% of your salary on a vehicle should be affordable. With a salary of $75k this would give you $35,000 to spend on a car which is enough for a brand new car.
With a 60k annual income, you can afford a nice car up to $25,000. Some 60k jobs include nurse, teacher, accountant, and salesperson.
If you make $75,000 per year, your total loan payments shouldn't exceed $2,250 per month. The 20/4/10 rule: Put down 20% on a car, finance the car for no more than 4 years, and keep your car payment less than or equal to 10% of your salary.
Whether you're paying cash, leasing, or financing a car, your upper spending limit really shouldn't be a penny more than 35% of your gross annual income. That means if you make $36,000 a year, the car price shouldn't exceed $12,600. Make $60,000, and the car price should fall below $21,000.
The frugal rule: 10% of your income
For many people, I think that will be between 10–15% of their income. So if you earn $25,000 a year, that's going to be a high-mileage used car for $2,500–$3,000. If you earn $80,000, that's a used car for around $10,000 or $12,000.
But that range does vary by the size of the household. A three-person household must have earned $51,962 to $155,902 to be considered middle-class while a family of four must earn about $60,000 to $180,000.
Is 60k a year good for a single person? Sixty thousand dollars a year is good for a single person in most of the world. It will buy you at least a middle-class lifestyle — meaning you can afford basic living expenses plus a few luxuries — in all but the most expensive cities around the globe.
Households earning $60,000 are unlikely to be housing cost-burdened. A family earning $60,000 should be able to comfortably afford housing costs in cities where the median household income ranges from $55,000 to $65,000.
So, theoretically, if your salary is $50,000 you could afford a car payment of $430 or less. With a $100,000 salary, you could afford a mortgage payment of no more than $2,500. For those with a salary near $30,000 your home, car, and debt combine should be no more than $1,250 per month.
Financial experts say your car-related expenses shouldn't exceed 20% of your monthly take-home pay. So, let's say you bring home about $2,500 each month. The total amount you should spend on your car — including loan payment, gas, insurance and maintenance — is right around $500.
When figuring out how much $60,000 a year per hour, you just need to divide your total salary by the number of hours you work. In this case, the answer is $28.85 an hour, more than four times the federal minimum wage in 2021. Here's the breakdown: You are earning $28.85 per hour.
When looking at how much $60,000 a year is biweekly in your paycheck, you simply need to calculate how much you would earn over every two weeks. If you assume a full-time position with no overtime and exactly 40 hours per week, then you would earn $60,000 / 26 bi-weekly pay periods = $2,307.69 per biweekly paycheck.
$29 an hour is how much per year? If you make $29 per hour, your Yearly salary would be $56,550. This result is obtained by multiplying your base salary by the amount of hours, week, and months you work in a year, assuming you work 37.5 hours a week.
$60,000 per year is a really good salary to live comfortably on. However, everyone's situation and finances are different.
The average net worth needed to be considered wealthy and to be financially comfortable both rose from last year's survey. In 2021, Americans said they needed $624,000 in net assets to live comfortably, while it would take $1.9 million to be rich.
An upper class income is usually considered at least 50% higher than the median household income. Therefore, an upper class income in America is $100,000 and higher.
How much should you spend on a car? If you're taking out a personal loan to pay for your car, it's a good idea to limit your car payments to between 10% and 15% of your take-home pay. If you take home $4,000 per month, you'd want your car payment to be no more than $400 to $600.
Consider a long-term career change
In some cities and states, a budget for family of 4 making 60k works great. However, if you're in a bustling metropolitan area like Austin, New York, San Francisco or other similar areas, you're likely finding it very hard to get ahead.
If you just began working and make this amount, it's a good place to start. This is still a decent salary if you've been working for many years, but you should work towards pay raises and promotions. Overall, 65k annually is a very good living wage. You should be able to live well with this amount and enjoy your life.
Annual Salary of $60,000 ÷ 12 months = $5,000 per month
This is how much you make a month if you get paid 60000 a year.
Aim to spend less than 10% of your take-home pay on your car payment and less than 15% to 20% on car expenses overall.
“It's the single worst financial decision millennials will ever make.” That's because the moment you drive it off the lot, the vehicle starts to depreciate: Your car's value typically decreases 20 to 30 percent by the end of the first year and, in five years, it can lose 60 percent or more of its initial value.
81% of millionaires purchase their vehicle and only 23.5 percent actually buy new cars. They understand that cars are depreciating assets, especially brand new ones. Most of the millionaires surveyed said they never spent more than $65,000 on an automobile.