$85k is manageable. There some apartment that cover heat and under $2400/month.

Roommate or two and you’ll save a lot of money/pay off debt faster. Its better to have a roommate for a year or two then go out on your own.

Our City Realty in Somerville has reasonable apartments.

$85k isn’t entry level. It’s roughly the city’s AMI in one of the wealthier cities in the country. It’s just your first job after college and you’re well compensated.

My husband and I are having thanksgiving dinner just the two of us and will for sure have more than enough for more. We live in the area and would love to make a plate for you. We plan on making Turkey, stuffing, Brussel sprout salad and sweet potato casserole.

In 2020 I dined alone. Ordered a feast from India Quality. I still think about how nice that was despite the less-than-ideal circumstances.

I do get bummed out when one of my favorite restaurants is closed for good and replaced by a new spot. Progress , right?

My favorite day of the year to drive around Cambridge. Reminds me of summers in the late 70’s and early 80’s. Zero traffic.

1600

I’m so sorry you’re sick! Any chance someone from your family could leave a plate on your doorstep? I hope you feel better soon! If you do order remember to leave a great tip :)

https://www.reddit.com/r/boston/comments/z3k8vw/does_anyone_need_a_turkey_dinner_today/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

Seriously, look carefully at a street map and transit maps. Somerville and Cambridge are wide cities from northwest to southeast and are basically stacked on top of one another. Proximity really depends on location. Somerville is a great city, and you should definitely include it in your living options as long as the location works for commuting. Similarly, just being in Cambridge doesn't ensure an easy commute. Traversing east-west across Somerville and/or Cambridge is a laborious, sucky commute that I would seek to avoid, if possible.

But sometimes the hours online are preset and it doesn't match the hours on holidays.

I looked on UberEats and there are definitely some that will be open later today...

ok jokes aside i don’t see the economic argument for how parking minimums make for more expensive housing.

Parking minimums = harder to build more housing. Your per unit cost goes up to build, so it’s harder to build more.

Harder to build more housing = price of housing goes up.

We invest billions of dollars in our public transit system and making it accessible to disabled people. While it isn’t perfect, if you live close to a T station, you do not need a car.

Look at NYC. Would it make sense to have parking minimums there? No. Because it would be insane to add that overhead to building new housing when there is an accessible public transit system in place.

Until we remove more barriers to building new housing, the price will continue to skyrocket. Remove legislation that blocks new housing. Remove zoning, remove parking minimums

Parking spot is usually rare in cheaper housing because city space is a premium. On street parking is possible.

In unit laundry is unfortunately very rare because our housing stock is mostly 100 year old buildings that weren’t build for it, so adding in unit laundry is a big project for a unit owner.

City compensation is usually much higher. I make probably more than double than I would in the middle of nowhere. YMMV of course, especially based on industry. If you’re in tech, finance, or biotech id imagine you should end up doing much better here than the Midwest (except perhaps Chicago)

Moved to cambridge this Summer and our one bed is 2200 with utilities included, didn’t seem like a crazy deal based on what we saw online.

My 1 bed was $2050 (recently increased to 2150 because I went month-to-month). It’s a solid apartment close to Harvard square.

Take a look at how property values work smart guy. Removing parking is a ply so developers can sell more luxury condos. Cars aren't going anywhere, they'll just get greener. I'm a cyclist and I've been hit twice. It'd be nice with fewer cars but removing parking minimums doesn't change their necessity for the population, it just makes it harder for the disabled to have accommodating housing and jacks up housing costs that much faster (meaning fewer less-socioenomocially-advantaged kids will have access to decent education).

Hi! I also make that amount in an entry level position. My partner and I split a 2BR that costs 2.8k a month. My bills for 2 people:

Rent: 2.8k

Groceries: ~400

Gas+electric: ~50

Transit:paid by work

Comcast: I think 50?

And I'm on a family plan for my phone so I actually don't make a phone payment. I'll tak on an extra ~200 for eating out because it's expensive here but also because it's expensive here we don't eat out that much but just to over estimate.

Water: landlord made it seem like I had to pay this and when I tried to set it up with the city, they laughed and said no no no, that's not something you have to worry about, so.. yeah 0

For me, if I pay half so probably ~$1.8kish a month. I also pay insurance and 401k contributions.

I did some math on my bank account and I'm saving >2k a month. I think you'll be fine. Of course, idk if this is a good number it's just more money than I ever thought I'd have in my life. Can't exactly buy a house here for... many many years, unless you want to have a crazy commute and then also pay insane fees to own a car.

Good luck out here. It's still crazy how expensive the market is out here but you can afford it comfortably. If you get a chance, join the number of people pushing for more affordable housing and it will help push all of the rents down, eventually.

Edit: formatting for easier reading on mobile

Yes, this is mainly what I was wondering about. I know that it’s above average for most starting salaries but I figured its not quite enough for all of those things in Cambridge. I would consider having in unit laundry and a parking space to be pretty basic standards of living but closer to a big city its harder to do. Of course I’m fine without those things but definitely something to consider. It’s interesting because when I was applying to jobs to places further out of a city, the compensation went way up because they had to convince a 22 year old to move to tiddlyfuck Indiana. So it’s funny how cost of living goes up and wages for degree holders go down the closer into the city you get, whereas it’s vice versa for the Midwest

It is a very common entry level salary for the field I’m in. On the lower end if anything. It’s my first job so I figured calling it entry level was appropriate. Sorry I was not trying to generalize, just wondering if it’s doable because I’ve had bad experiences in the Boston area in the past in terms of overpaying for rent, groceries, gas, etc and having no savings

Where in Cambridge can you get 1 BR for 2k?? It’s at least 2400. I moved in September 1, which I know is the height of prices. But, as someone who was recently in the market, your numbers are way off.

Same here :(

I remember Jackie!

Poor kids growing up without parking… never stood a chance SMH

Sigh just another narrow minded take refusing to acknowledge why people in the immediate neighborhood would react to a significant change like this after having lived with things being a certain way for literally decades. These city subs are often way too vehement in their inability to understand someone else’s circumstances….

It absolutely is in some fields. Entry level top tier consulting is 100k+