Submitted by Purple_Ad_3097 t3_11yimd0 in WorcesterMA
I've heard some people say you need to make at least 60-70k to live here.
But there are thousands of entry level positions like retail and line cooks. How do they survive?
Assuming they get 18-20 an hour x 40, that's only like 40k. Do they live with 2 roommates? Do they have to uber/doordash to make a few hundred dollars on their days off?
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We finally kicked ours out after he punched a hole in the wall, broke a mirror and tracked blood through the entire building.
But yeah. Just a nightmare all around. I've never had an issue with roommates in the past 10 years of college and my 3 apparents but this one dude has pushed me in to a state of mind where I'm going to pay more to live alone for the rest of my life.
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I sent him some links to air bnb monthly rentals in the area that come out to like 1k but he didn't take that up and said it was to hard to find another place.
So in the end I just ended up moving out, waving my security deposit and letting him know he could take the whole lease. After he trashed the place I let the landlord know and now he's also leaving but, I don't even feel safe staying at this point. Guy holds grudges and I don't want any part of him .
Where do people find roommates? Is there a popular listing site, and are any more reliable/ less sketchy than others?
And how are things generally priced out? It's hard to compare prices with so few listings.
I see like 15 apartments on Zillow right now with rent under 1400
1400 for the unit. Pluss another 50 for parking, 40 for pet, 90 for Internet, power, water.
By the time your done it's never that low.
Okay there’s units from 1100-1300 still below what you said
With roommates.
They live somewhere cheaper (like Uxbridge or Fitchburg) and commute.
Most people who work around or in Worcester do not live here (just like with any city really).
For example, my brother makes $20/hr but has a 4 bedroom apartment he shares with 3 others. And he works a side job on the weekends for some extra money. Inflation & housing crises is the worst. Someone SHOULD be able to live on their own and fine at $20/hr
My fiancé and I make a combined income of $170k and we do fine. But we still barely were able to buy a house. And sometimes we still have to be very careful with money (especially with having a house, anything can break and turn into thousands of dollars) And our rent was $2k before buying (in the Hamilton st. Area). It helps that we don’t have car payments (we drive older cars) and he’s a mechanic so that helps.
We both work in Shrewsbury so it’s not a far commute. You’ll find more jobs up route 9 than you will in all of Worcester lol
Actually the opposite, majority of people that live in Shrewsbury or any of the surrounding suburbs work in Worcester
Well that kind of goes to me saying “most people who work in or around Worcester don’t live in Worcester”. But there are so many jobs up and down route 9, route 9 stretches into Boston and is a business hub
Having roommates or living with relatives or partner/spouse.
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They commute, mostly.
There's some cheap housing in Worcester, but it's swallowed up pretty quick.
Commute from where? Everywhere within 40 minutes of the city has $1000+ rents now.
I don't think you've looked at as much of the housing market as I have. There's opportunities in the $900-1100 range, but they stay on the market for very little time.
There's more of it just outside of Worcester in the surrounding suburbs.
It typically crops up right around the end of semester and graduation dates.
You basically live with roommates until you're able to make 60k+ a year and can afford a mortgage of a couple grand on your own, or take the roommates with you to afford the house a little easier...
Commute to Boston where jobs pay more
We bought in Fitchburg over 20 years ago because we couldn't afford to live closer to our jobs in Cambridge. Now we'd be strapped trying to afford our home out here in the 'Burg. Hell. apartments here are going for $1600 and up now.
My mom's friend and her husband bought a few triple deckers in Fitchburg/Leominster for dirt cheap and fixed them up and rented them out as their retirement hobby. This was about 15 years ago. Became a very lucrative hobby lol
Pretty much me rn. Still refuse to move to Boston though even if the morning traffic drives me insane
Yeah, I was in Boston for quite some time but the rents were pretty up there. Still high! Not gonna pay 2500 for a studio
Yep. I would love to live there but that would mean living in squalor while not being able to save a penny.
$3200 for those fancy new 400 Sq foot apartments lol
3200 on up depending on the neighborhood
A lot of locals here that work entry level positions are young adults living with their parents too while probably going to college at the same time.
I make 70k and I’m struggling to find a place that I can comfortably afford.
Many of those positions go to students & teens (i.e., people who don't have tons of work experience). They're still in school, maybe living with their parents. If you've been in the workforce for many years, you're too over-qualified for an entry level position. You'd be applying for a more senior role which comes with more pay. In theory anyway...
But in reality:
There’s a lot of communities surrounding Worcester where the rent is lower.
I lived in Worcester for 40 years and never had a job there, always commuted. That’s how.
I succesfully lived with two roommates in a triple decker while making 48k a year before tax. Rent was 1500. It was modest but I paid all my bills
Me and my wife together bring home about 75-80k and we’re able to pay rent (1600 a month for a studio) and save several hundred dollars a month. Granted I’m the only one that has to drive to work (we only have one car) and she walks to work. It’s taken three years to build our salaries, but at this point we spend sensibly and don’t have to live paycheck to paycheck.
My wife and I make around $200k combined, and pay $2,000/month in mortgage all in. Before I made good money, I rented and had two roommates. It was a nice place and everyone was respectful, but that can be hard to find. For many years, I made less than $60k, and had rent in the $850 range. It does suck. I’ve always had two jobs too.
If one makes $135k a year and puts 10% into retirement savings their take home is $6400 a month or so.
$2100 is the target 1/3 of net income spent on housing. So you need to make a good amount to afford a 3 bedroom or house.
I was homeless for 7 months last year and thankfully I got rescued by my lovely girlfriend I met during my homelessness, finding an apartment is really hard by yourself that you can afford and continue building a savings. I had a good savings to begin with when I first became homeless and chose to stay homeless due to the fact I was saving my entire paychecks (not having a car) no student loans and the only bill I was paying was my phone bill. Now my savings looks better than ever and I have enough to buy all the resources I need but overall.. renting is not the way to go. Dumping your hard earned money into a place that your not gonna be at the rest of your life. Save as much as you can while you can, make investments along the way, buy the stuff that you will take with you.
When I was making 45k a year I bought a 1 bedroom condo that came out to like 1100 a month between mortgage and HOA fees. This was in Marlborough in 2019. I'm sure somewhat cheap condos can be bought in the area. Much better than renting.
I know plenty of people that live off of assistance, so honestly, you don’t need anything to live in Worcester
About tree fitty
I know plenty of people that live off of assistance, so honestly, you don’t need anything to live in Worcester half the people in the city or on assistance I bet it’s more like 89%
With the current administration's past, current, and future economic policies, inflation will probably continue to rise unabated. By 2025 you'll see $3K average rates for a studio or 1 bedroom. Until we can somehow stop the government from printing money and extending the national debt, housing, food, and energy will continue to eat everyone's paychecks.
Zinski t1_jd7qtfz wrote
Roommates are the only real answer unless you can afford like 1600-2000 in rent.
You can find a 3-4 bedroom for like 2000. It wont be fantastic but you can get rent for around 600 with 3-4 roommates. in most of the city.
However I just left my last place because I rented a room to an insane person so... just stay safe.