Price/month for renting

[Lothric]

Hey,

From Sweden here. Will do US residency in the future.

Is it possible to rent a room and live in that room alone (no share of room, but other things as kitchen can be shared) with a resident's salary while monthly paying 1150 $ for loans?

With possible I mean to have leftover money for a monthly bus ticket, Internet, food, Insurance, retirement, misc. and other mandatory expenses.

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[Raryn]

There are approaching 6000 residency programs in this country in cities scattered amongst all 50 states, with the size of the US approximating the size of the EU. This question would be like me asking if I could rent an apartment for €850/month in Europe. Likely not in London, probably possible in Prague. Etc.

The answer is it depends, but likely yes. If you do residency in say, San Francisco, spending $1150/month on loans will make it very difficult to meet living expenses on a resident salary even if you split an apartment (and you would have to in that city). If you do it in most of the rest of the country, it will *probably* be doable.

 

[Lothric]

There are approaching 6000 residency programs in this country in cities scattered amongst all 50 states, with the size of the US approximating the size of the EU. This question would be like me asking if I could rent an apartment for €850/month in Europe. Likely not in London, probably possible in Prague. Etc.

The answer is it depends, but likely yes. If you do residency in say, San Francisco, spending $1150/month on loans will make it very difficult to meet living expenses on a resident salary even if you split an apartment (and you would have to in that city). If you do it in most of the rest of the country, it will *probably* be doable.

Hey!

When you say "split apartment", do you mean share the one and the same room? This assumes that the apartment is one room only...

As long as I can be alone in one room I'm fine, even if I split other rooms like kitchen etc. I want to be able to do my noisy hobby (live streaming) without someone complaining about it.

 

[redfish955]

You will have trouble in big cities in southern California and the east coast. Every where else you should be fine. I would look for a studio with a wd in a newer luxury apartment downtown near where you work. These are normally about 800-1100.

 

[Lothric]

You will have trouble in big cities in southern California and the east coast. Every where else you should be fine. I would look for a studio with a wd in a newer luxury apartment downtown near where you work. These are normally about 800-1100.

Will I still have trouble in those big cities if I decide to have "roommates"? Like I said, as long as I can be alone in ONE room I'm satisfied.

Somehow when I think about roommates I think of a one-room apartment and that would obviously be a problem if I do my noisy hobby. Maybe that's not the case. Are two room apartments more common to have roommates in?

 

[Raryn]

Will I still have trouble in those big cities if I decide to have "roommates"? Like I said, as long as I can be alone in ONE room I'm satisfied.

Somehow when I think about roommates I think of a one-room apartment and that would obviously be a problem if I do my noisy hobby. Maybe that's not the case. Are two room apartments more common to have roommates in?

By roommates we mean (in most circumstances) flat-mates. You'll be able to afford a room to yourself in the vast majority of the country on a resident salary minus your presumed loan payment, it might just be a tight budget in certain circumstances.

 

[redfish955]

Most new apartments in big American cities are offering like 350-500 square foot apartments for transplants who wish they could be in a shared room. In some of the bigger more dense cities with a high gdp per capita they can be as high as 2000 a month or more. If you go to google.com and type in the name of the city and apartment you should get several websites for finding American apartments with the price. If you can land in the south or Midwest you should be able to live in a nice apartment, eat nice groceries, and pay for a couple dates each week. If your in a big East or West coast city your going to be eating cheap groceries and find it hard to go out for dinner, bar, sports leagues, or ect.

 

[FlowRate]

There are only a few locations in the country where you would pretty much have to spend more than 1000/mo even with flat-mates. Most residencies pay more than $55k/yr which is ~$3600 per month take-home. That gives you $2500 to live on after your loan payment. That's about how much my usual monthly expenses run in a very expensive part of the country in a nicely located shared apartment (1 flat mate.)

 

[redfish955]

The biggest bit of advice I can give is to find an apartment with a washer and dryer unit in it. If you get a small room in a nice building in a good area of town for young people you will likely be bumping into other affluent people out at the pool and restaurants.

 

[Mman]

Most residencies pay more than $55k/yr which is ~$3600 per month take-home.

Damn that's gone up a lot recently. I think I got about $35-6K per year in 2005/6 as an intern and didn't top $40K until PGY3.

 

[FlowRate]

Damn that's gone up a lot recently. I think I got about $35-6K per year in 2005/6 as an intern and didn't top $40K until PGY3.

It's possible that number is an artifact of my having interviewed at almost exclusively mid-large size cities. Also $40k in 2004 = $53k in 2018 so not too far off of inflation.

 

[Raryn]

It's possible that number is an artifact of my having interviewed at almost exclusively mid-large size cities. Also $40k in 2004 = $53k in 2018 so not too far off of inflation.

https://www.aamc.org/download/471828/data/2016stipendsurveyreportfinal.pdf

Median intern stipend nationwide is $53,580. Resident salaries have basically mirrored inflation going back forever. (OTOH, debt has not, but with modern income-based plans, most residents are making minimal if any payments on their debt even if it's higher than ever)

 

[Mman]

It's possible that number is an artifact of my having interviewed at almost exclusively mid-large size cities. Also $40k in 2004 = $53k in 2018 so not too far off of inflation.

36K rising by the same rate as the CPI would be 46K in 2018. Seems resident salaries have been outpacing inflation for a while.

 

[redfish955]

36K rising by the same rate as the CPI would be 46K in 2018. Seems resident salaries have been outpacing inflation for a while.

I think cost of living in big cities is sky rocketing so residencies have to keep up. Millenials are waiting a long time to have kids, there is a much bigger gay scene in a lot of cities, divorce rate has gone up and all of these people love living in downtown apartments.