See also big-ticket discretionary spends4Chinese middle-class]US

I know our monthly burn rate in SG = SGD5k (6k including $700 tax), with zero rent or mtg. How about U.S. ? My estimate is USD 8k, or 6k Excluding the big 3 housing costs [pTax/mtg/rent]. Below is my quick survey.

Beware: rather few individuals would spend the time to understand the true burn rate including mtg monthly, excluding income tax. Therefore, their estimates can be 20% off the mark.
Beware: Melvin3 highlights the omission of infrequent but large repair costs.

In the job loss scenario, austerity can cut family burn rate by 20%+ but more likely I would return to Singapore, where my burn rate is roughly half the U.S. level, after FX conversion.

• Jenny ——– said 5k minimum for 4-people family, excluding housing/pTax+medBx. This would be Melvin1. Jenny said her bank statement shows minimum 3k+
• CSDoctor —- said $9k including mtg and pTax so I guess non-housing burn rate = 6k.
• CSY ———- said household expenditure might be under 5k, excluding A) med insurance, B) pTax, C) mtg. If Including A+B+C, he estimated 6-9k.
• XR ———– said he did his income taxes many times, each time summing up his total outlay as 100k+. This total used to include mortgage but now it includes 2.4k childcare + pTax and zero mortgage. By my standard, his monthly burn rate is 9k
• Deepak —– said $9k for a family of three, including $2200 rent and $250 med insurance sponsored by employer. In 2022, he estimated their combined take-home was 160k+ and saving target was 55k
• https://transferwise.com/us/blog/cost-of-living-in-the-usa says excluding income tax or rent, average in NY = 4k
• median family pretax income is typically equal [1] to total burn rate including everything, so after tax total burn rate is probably 65k/Y across the country. Pretax is 79k/Y according to https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEFAINUSA646N
• https://howmuch.net/articles/how-americans-spend-money-2017 shows 57k/Y excluding income tax, for an average American family. Per month = 5k
  • https://www.bls.gov/cex/csxgloss.htm shows pTax, mtg .. are part of OwnedDwelings expenditure.
• https://www.valuepenguin.com/average-household-budget#nogo and https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/budget-and-spending/2018/05/08/how-does-average-american-spend-paycheck/34378157/ show breakdown by expenditure category

[1] My own estimate — most American families save less than 5% over long term like 5Y+