Wages to live in Dublin

arccosh

Haven't lived in Dublin for a while, but what would be a liveable wage now?


Been offered a job of circa €60k a year, and would be supporting a GF and child for the next year or two.


Ideally would be living close to work, where rent is around €2.5 - 3k per month, but there is a possibility I'll have to commute (cheaper rent but have to pay tickets, so monthly outgoing would be similar).


I know it's a "how long is a piece of string" question. I'm not too big on going out and quite frugal generally, but I also don't want to be in a position where if I wanted to go for a meal with friends, I could etc...


As mentioned, I'd be renting, so I'd be looking to be earning enough to save for a deposit also...

L1011

You can't afford 3k a month rent, or 2.5k a month for that matter on a 60k salary. Your takehome is going to be about 3.5k, even adding childrens allowance isn't going to give you enough to live on.

An all-services Dublin area annual ticket is ~€1100 a year for someone paying higher rate tax. That would cover the distance out to Balbriggan/Naas*/Kilcock*/Kilcoole* so the drop in rental prices would be vastly more than €90 a month; not working out similar.

*it goes further on rail than bus

rd1izb7lvpuksx

Yeah, at €60,000 pa (even with your spouse's tax credits), your take home is likely to be ~€3,750 pm. Ideally you'd look to save 1/3rd and spend no more than 1/3rd on rent, which would give you a budget of €1,250 pm. Unfortunately, in Dublin, you're more likely to be spending ~50% of your take home on rent, upping your budget to ~€1,875 - still nowhere near enough to live close to your work.

spurious

Partly in jest...Any chance you could get married and get the more generous tax allowances?

Samuel T. Cogley

Where is work? You might get some suggestions on places to commute from.

TimeToShine

I’m baffled as to how someone in the position to earn a €60k salary thinks it is compatible with a €2.5k+ rent AND saving for a deposit. Sorry but you haven’t a chance of living beside work, the max you can spend on rent is about €1800 with your dependents.

If I were you I’d think long and hard about moving to Dublin with a family.

votecounts

The point a lot of people are making is that 60k is about 40-42k take home pay which i agree with is that rent that you are thinking about is not enough. I would sugeest living in a commuter town like newbridge , naas, even carlow but your family life would take a big hit but your costs would be a lot lower
Did not see the saving for a deposit bit, no chance in dublin

arccosh

so.. back to the question in the first line... what would be a liveable wage in Dublin?

I was certain 60k is nowhere near enough, but I wanted to guage what amount is for the life I would be aiming to have, but I'm interested to where 60k would get me also...

As mentioned, I haven't been in Dublin for a number of years, so I haven't a breeze about cost of living, bills, hidden taxes and sevice charges...

If I were to communte, Connolly would be the closest station.

L1011

To pay 3k rent and have a reasonable lifestyle for two adults and a kid you'd want to be earning about 100k before tax to be bringing home 60k after.

To be saving for a deposit for a similar property you'd want to add another 50k to that minimum - that'd be ~25k after tax.

Connolly gets direct trains from all lines now.

Stheno

If you looked around North County Dublin you'll get a two bed for 1500 -1800, in the likes of Swords.

Then you've got bus services like Swords Expres for the commute

That leaves you with close to 2k for bills,living expenses and savings

Samuel T. Cogley

arccosh wrote: »

so.. back to the question in the first line... what would be a liveable wage in Dublin?

I was certain 60k is nowhere near enough, but I wanted to guage what amount is for the life I would be aiming to have, but I'm interested to where 60k would get me also...

As mentioned, I haven't been in Dublin for a number of years, so I haven't a breeze about cost of living, bills, hidden taxes and sevice charges...

If I were to communte, Connolly would be the closest station.

If that's the closest station then you might find something affordable on the DART line in Kilbarrack or Raheny.

PowerToWait

It's fairly mental / sad that a 60k salary doesn't allow someone to even rent in central Dublin.

Close to a grand a week to live down in that soulless, windy hoor of a spot is also bananas.

Stheno

PowerToWait wrote: »

It's fairly mental / sad that a 60k salary doesn't allow someone to even rent in central Dublin.

Close to a grand a week to live down in that soulless, windy hoor of a spot is also bananas.

In fairness op has a girlfriend and child. He could probably find a house share if he were on his own.

2 bed apartments in Grand Canal Dock are renting for 3700 a month near where I work

dubrov

PowerToWait wrote:

It's fairly mental / sad that a 60k salary doesn't allow someone to even rent in central Dublin.

In fairness, that 60k is competing against couples with two incomes. With the different tax treatment, it's more like a couple on 25k each.

ELM327

60k as a salary doesnt go that far these days. Plenty of lads (and lassies) in my field earning more than me (I'd be around the 60k mark too) and they (and I) cannot afford to live in Dublin.

When people say 100k isn't "rich" anymore as a salary, it's because of high rents and higher cost of living. Imagine paying north of 3k to rent!!

rd1izb7lvpuksx

dubrov wrote: »

In fairness, that 60k is competing against couples with two incomes. With the different tax treatment, it's more like a couple on 25k each.

A couple on 50k combined can't afford to rent in central Dublin either. Both are competing against 100k+ tech salaries.

ashes2014

On 60K and paying 2.5k-3k per month on rent you would not have a penny left for yourself or anyone else.

LoneWolfe2020

rent should ideally be no more than a third of your salary. If you can manage living in an apartment you can possibly get a 2 bed for just under 2k in Dublin

DellyBelly

Memphis Gigantic Mothball wrote: »

A couple on 50k combined can't afford to rent in central Dublin either. Both are competing against 100k+ tech salaries.

Yeah 60k isn't a great wage in Dublin unless of course you are a graduate whic hby the sounds of it you are not. Most people in Dublin would be earning 85K+ and if they are married that's 170k that you would be up against. Any chance finding something that pays a bit more. As a few have said 60K isn't a great salary especially in Dublin

L1011

DellyBelly wrote: »

Yeah 60k isn't a great wage in Dublin unless of course you are a graduate whic hby the sounds of it you are not. Most people in Dublin would be earning 85K+ and if they are married that's 170k that you would be up against. Any chance finding something that pays a bit more. As a few have said 60K isn't a great salary especially in Dublin

Most people looking to rent a 3k a month apartment perhaps- it is only very specific industries that have salaries like that.

Samuel T. Cogley

DellyBelly wrote: »

Yeah 60k isn't a great wage in Dublin unless of course you are a graduate whic hby the sounds of it you are not. Most people in Dublin would be earning 85K+ and if they are married that's 170k that you would be up against. Any chance finding something that pays a bit more. As a few have said 60K isn't a great salary especially in Dublin

No they wouldn't.

vriesmays

Memphis Gigantic Mothball wrote: »

A couple on 50k combined can't afford to rent in central Dublin either. Both are competing against 100k+ tech salaries.

They're also competing against charity associations housing former addicts in the city centre sitting on their holes every day on welfare.

BDI

Best bet is somewhere close to a luas or dart station.

Do people honestly think that unskilled shop workers in Dublin are on 75g a year? Or barely skilled office workers?

There is a huge pile of people pulling 4-500 a week on the bus, train and luas in the mornings.

wench

DellyBelly wrote: »

Yeah 60k isn't a great wage in Dublin unless of course you are a graduate whic hby the sounds of it you are not. Most people in Dublin would be earning 85K+ and if they are married that's 170k that you would be up against. Any chance finding something that pays a bit more. As a few have said 60K isn't a great salary especially in Dublin

Meanwhile, in the real world, less than 4% of households are earning 170K+

https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-gpii/geographicalprofilesofincomeinireland2016/incomeinireland/

Homelander

DellyBelly wrote: »

Yeah 60k isn't a great wage in Dublin unless of course you are a graduate whic hby the sounds of it you are not. Most people in Dublin would be earning 85K+ and if they are married that's 170k that you would be up against. Any chance finding something that pays a bit more. As a few have said 60K isn't a great salary especially in Dublin

Why is boards such a breeding ground for utter ****e talk? Most people in Dublin are certainly not earning 85K. Forget the plus. Forget the 8 figure in that statement for that matter.

It baffles me to hear some of these opinions on boards. Read one the other day on the teachers thread about how 50K for a teacher age 36 wasn't a great salary. 60K, as per the OP, is a good wage anywhere, it just doesn't go nearly as far in Dublin as it would elsewhere, that's all. All this bizarre talk which amounts to "if you're not earning 100K in Dublin, you're scraping by".

Plenty of families being reared in the Dublin area on combined salaries less that that..far less that that in many, many cases. Ideal? Course not. But workable? People have no other choice and they get by.

I think the actual median wage in Ireland is something like 29K. The median, as in, the average wage that most people earn, not the average disrupted by high salaries. Not sure how that magically translates to 85K in Dublin.

PhoenixParker

E60,000 is a fine salary for a single person to live very comfortably in Dublin.

E60,000 to support two adults and one child in Dublin is tight, especially when they're unmarried and not taking advantage of tax credits.
To put it in perspective, if each adult was earning individually, the pay that would give the equivalent take home would be E23,500 gross per annum, not much above minimum wage. It's doable, but it's not living in a nice place with a short commute and saving for a deposit money.

If your girlfriend could earn any money at all it would be well worth doing, the first several thousand will be tax free since her earnings will be low.

BDI

Common women gave up the right to not work when they won the right to work. You have to put her out to work.

arccosh

Thanks everyone for the informative replies.

Just for clarification, it is only an offer, I haven't accepted or anything, and more than likely, nor will I be. A lot of these replies seem to be geared towards the scenario that I have accepted and am en-route to Dublin.

The point of the thread was to get a feel of the situation in Dublin at the moment, and what sort of money I would need to live the lifestyle I would like, close to the city. But, also to get a feel of what and where 60k would get me elsewhere on the commuter belt.

Yes my GF will be going back to work, but if we were to move back, initially I would need her not to, so we could settle, and save on childcare.

Keep the replies coming if anyone has any other info !

ongarite

Homelander wrote: »

Why is boards such a breeding ground for utter ****e talk? Most people in Dublin are certainly not earning 85K. Forget the plus. Forget the 8 figure in that statement for that matter.

It baffles me to hear some of these opinions on boards. Read one the other day on the teachers thread about how 50K for a teacher age 36 wasn't a great salary. 60K, as per the OP, is a good wage anywhere, it just doesn't go nearly as far in Dublin as it would elsewhere, that's all. All this bizarre talk which amounts to "if you're not earning 100K in Dublin, you're scraping by".

Plenty of families being reared in the Dublin area on combined salaries less that that..far less that that in many, many cases. Ideal? Course not. But workable? People have no other choice and they get by.

I think the actual median wage in Ireland is something like 29K. The median, as in, the average wage that most people earn, not the average disrupted by high salaries. Not sure how that magically translates to 85K in Dublin.

Median wage in Ireland for full-time workers is 47K based on latest CSO figures.
I would be a safe bet that the average is even higher in Dublin.
https://www.thejournal.ie/rish-workers-earn-an-average-of-e23-an-hour-4677090-Jun2019/

Homelander

That's the average wage, not the median. The median will be lower than that. Some of these figures are outdated but this gives you a good idea.

kippy

arccosh wrote: »

Thanks everyone for the informative replies.

Just for clarification, it is only an offer, I haven't accepted or anything, and more than likely, nor will I be. A lot of these replies seem to be geared towards the scenario that I have accepted and am en-route to Dublin.

The point of the thread was to get a feel of the situation in Dublin at the moment, and what sort of money I would need to live the lifestyle I would like, close to the city. But, also to get a feel of what and where 60k would get me elsewhere on the commuter belt.

Yes my GF will be going back to work, but if we were to move back, initially I would need her not to, so we could settle, and save on childcare.

Keep the replies coming if anyone has any other info !

What's the lifestyle you would like?

The reality, if you've worked out that rent costs will be circa 2500 to 3000 per month is that you will need to earn €30K -€36K per annum net to cover that cost alone.
€60K assessed as a single income returns about €42K per annum (€45K if assessed as a couple)(assuming there are no pension deductions)

Essentially you'd have 6 to 15 K per annum to live on - give or take.
This would need to cover:
Food
Bills
Clothes
And anything else that might crop up.
And whatever else you'd need to cover for three of you.
It'd be a tight existence depending on your expectations.

You'd be better in a small county town on half the salary, granted with the limited opportunities. Maybe the 60K job is a pathway into a better gig.

(Handy site for Net wages - https://taxcalc.ie/budget-2019/) but you'd need to allow for pensions etc out of that also.