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Forums - Gaming - 30% of game developers feel their salary doesn't cover cost of living

Random Canadian said:

You appear to have no fucking clue what the world is like outside your little bubble so let me paint a not so nice picture for you.

Me, 24 at the time making 80k/yr, At the low end of the income scale for the Small Town <- I live in. Now where I come from that would be the top say 15 20% ish that make that and average income would be about 50k and half the cost of living.

Its not about organic food or starbucks its about the cost of living where you live, period.

Nope.  Assuming that you aren't a single father of two, you're doing something insanely wrong if you can't make ends meet making $80K a year.  Anyone on this site struggling at $80k is probably one of those people you see in, "What games are you buying this month?" threads and they list like 20 games for their day one console purchase.  Someone comments on the idea of spending $1200 on games in a month and they respond, "any working adult can easily afford that!"

... then they come in here saying it's impossible to live off $80k a year.  I'd bet money that if you saw their checkbook you'd see they were living way out of wack and blowing money like crazy.  There's a difference between you don't make ends me and you can't make ends meet.



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ok, realistic (in my area) living expenses for 2 people only 1 works with a single car.

car inurance - $30/month car insurance (10 y.o. car)
gas - $100/month.
rent - $600 single bedroom with heat/hot water.
electric - $60
internet+phone - $60
food - $600/month ($3/meal + $1snack per day per person)
toiletries - $50/month
emergency fund - $200/month

total needed per year - $20,400

granted I know that rent in my area can be cheap, and insurance on my car is low because it is so old (in fact, the number I used included my motorcycle insurance ) and we have cheap insurance in general.

Food estimates are a tiny bit high, as I know you can eat for cheaper than that, but that is about what I spend and I get tasty food. Some meals are less expensive so it all balances out.

I tried to estimate for medical expenses and car repairs and other general needs. Of course this budget doesn't allow for any luxuries and you better already own all your clothes

If you earn $20k/year I'm not sure if you get taxed or not so obviously you need to earn more than what I stated, but $30k should cover it. In fact at $30k you should be able to save up for another car once the current one breaks down plus be able to entertain yourself for cheap. Of course, if you racked up a huge college debt, then you'll be screwed.




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