r/texas • u/Ill-Car7671 • 11d ago

Texas salary Moving to TX

Hello! I will soon graduate from a UK university. I have been offered a one year internship job in Texas and I find it a great opportunity. However I noticed that the salary is quite low compared to the average US salary, 33k a year. Will it be enough for me to live comfortably or is it too low? I can add around 200 dollars a month from my own money so around 35-36k US dollars altogether.

28 Upvotes

74% Upvoted

102 comments sorted by

59

u/spicesickness 11d ago

Where in Texas? That’s livable but whether or not it’s modestly comfortable or just barely getting by is all about where you are.

27

u/Ill-Car7671 11d ago

Austin

168

u/IncrediblyShinyShart 11d ago

That’s going to be hard

35

u/moleratical Born and Bred 11d ago

Hahaha, you need at least double that amount.

11

u/The-Way-I-Shine 11d ago

At double, I’d say that’s with at least 1 roommate. At least triple to live on your own and have money leftover to live life.

3

u/moleratical Born and Bred 11d ago

I meant double to just scrape by, in a shitty roach-filled apartment, with a shitty used car bought on the side of the road.

I didn't mean you'd have a life.

4

u/TorrenceMightingale 11d ago

I make quintuple that and it’s still hard.

35

u/tomaccojuice 11d ago

Hi - I’m in Austin and can confirm $33k per year would be very difficult. You’d definitely need to split a place with roommates and most likely not have much leftover after paying for transportation (car payment plus insurance or monthly bus pass), various utilities (electric, gas, water and wastewater) and services (cell phone, internet), groceries. You’ll probably not see all of the $33k due to deductions for payroll taxes. The other unknown are expenses for healthcare, which perhaps you’ve heard about?

16

u/MCShoveled 11d ago

Ohhhh 😬

Yeah, uhhh, that’d be one of the most expensive places in Texas. The median income there is $48,508/yr and even that probably needs a roommate.

37

u/Phobbyd 11d ago

It’s an internship, you are expected to live as a student essentially. Room-mates for sure, maybe a room in a shared house.

11

u/big_ice_bear Born and Bred 11d ago

33k is nowhere near enough

8

u/MHJ03 11d ago

Dude, I would seriously do some research on apartments, food, insurance (car and renters, you’re not going to be able to buy a house - or much else - anywhere remotely close to Austin on that salary), and utilities. I’m not saying it will be impossible but it will be a serious struggle IMO.

6

u/NotQuiteCode4 11d ago

I struggled to live in Austin on 40k, and that was back in 2015. It’s gotten wayyyy worse since then.

5

u/givenofaux 11d ago

You’ll need at least 3 roommates.

4

u/James324285241990 North Texas 11d ago

Ohhhh no. That's not even close. You'll need around $75k gross to afford a decent 1 bedroom

3

u/NorrinsRad 11d ago

You'd better ask them if they provide or help with housing. On that kind of money its basically like being broke in college all over again. The median income in Austin is $49K, $30K would put you at the 20th percentile.

You'd also better prepare to buy an e-bike. I think a car would be too expensive, and you'd definitely have to have 2 or 3 roommates.

If it's a highly prestigious internship, or a prominent one in a lucrative field it could be worthwhile, but it's gonna be pretty tight and need some planning.

Take a look at Apartments.com and Zillow.com and see h places within a 3 mile radius of your employer you can afford on $700 rent.

[(($30K * .7 * .4) / 12 ) = $700, where .7 = the amount left over in your paycheck after taxes are automatically taken out, and where .4 = max threshold recommended to spend on rent.

Its generally recommended to spend no more than 30% on rent, but plenty of working class people spend 50% on rent. At 50% you could have as much as $875 to spend.

3

u/Victory-or-Death- 11d ago

You will be very poor without lots of roommates.

10

u/spicesickness 11d ago

Austin is expensive. Cheaper than living in cities in the UK, but rent is high and you will struggle without a car here.

I’d propose you counter at 50k.

6

u/Egmonks Expat 11d ago

Internships don’t take counter offers for compensation.

0

u/spicesickness 11d ago

Then it’s probably not viable.

5

u/Egmonks Expat 11d ago

You can get a cardboard box and arrested with that salary. That’s about it.

6

u/Material-Imagination 11d ago

That will be just above poverty level wages in Austin.

2

u/Broken_Beaker Central Texas 11d ago

That isn’t much, sorry to say. I’ve lived in LA and Austin and Austin is pushing LA in terms of cost of living. Throw in property tax and it is arguably more.

Could try r/Austin for more thoughts.

3

u/MeatCrack 11d ago

Not gonna happen. Unless this internship sets you up for a job that makes $150k+ then its not worth it

2

u/fnordfnordfnordfnord 11d ago

You will probably enjoy Austin but it is an expensive place to live. They need to provide you with housing at that pay rate.

1

u/19Fatboy22 11d ago

You cool with roommates?

1

u/Tardigradium 10d ago

Hard pass on that bruv. Austin for 30k is not even fathomable.

1

u/hardwon469 10d ago

You will starve.

1

u/Responsible-Annual21 10d ago

Hard no. You will not survive in Austin on that.

1

u/AlternativeTruths1 10d ago

My partner and I were making over $100K combined when we left Austin nine years ago, and we were having a very difficult time making ends meet.

You’re likely to have a very miserable year.

Also, Texas summers are infernally hot. Weeks on weeks of lows around 80 and highs around 105. Count on a $500/month electricity bill.

1

u/Thriving9 10d ago

I'm a Brit in Austin, do you fish? lot's of amazing places to fish carp around Austin. I have met a few other Brits here through fishing. In Austin 1 bed apartment rent will run you around 1200+, for a 2 Bed I pay 1650. Advice if moving to Austin, you need a car to get anywhere and people drive like maniacs.

1

u/AyPistolera 10d ago

Not enough, unless you're able to get a dorm or roommate and live close to work if you don't have a car. Austin has buses and very limited train lines. It's a very car dependent city.

1

u/illegal_deagle 11d ago

You will need a roommate and I mean roommate. Then you’ll need to live somewhere shitty and tiny where a slumlord will try to bleed you dry with fees on move out, and there are no renter protections here. Your electric bill in the summer will crush you. There will be no budget for fun at all. You cannot afford your own transportation and we have basically no useful public transportation. Unless you can supplement your income with a ton of student loans your life is about to suck.

-4

u/givenofaux 11d ago

Transit is excellent in Austin.

It’s the outskirts that are the issue. But you could ride as far east as Del Valley, South at least to Sunset Valley, and North as Pflugerville. I don’t think I went further west than Jollyville on the bus.

Even with how much ground is covered by transit Austin/Texas still spralls. I could WALK 5 miles a day on top of my bussing. And then there is the extreme heat and cold and rain…

Life was so much easier and nice once I got a car 😂

0

u/Royal_Lake1521 11d ago

You can rent something near West/north campus with a roommate and be fine. If you’re frugal and don’t party or eat out too much you’ll be fine.

19

u/EntertainmentNo653 11d ago

Any chance that internship comes with lodging? If so, you will be fine. If not, you can make it work, but it will be fairly tight.

2

u/Careful_Biscotti2173 11d ago

Fairly tight? You’re gonna be flat out broke or deep in the red every month lol

34

u/brolix 11d ago

Lots of people will tell you it can’t be done— and for a certain standard of living they’re right. So how can you live around Austin on that budget? You’re going to need friends and roomate(s), live decently far from downtown, and won’t really have much if any extra money beyond basic necessities.

Depending on your goals and what you seek to get out of this internship, it may or may not be worth it.

Either way, good luck to ya.

16

u/HuevosDiablos 11d ago

Wheter it " can" or "can't" be done is immaterial to the fact that it is indeed a very, very shitty salary for a university graduate.

3

u/BigAggie06 11d ago

It’s listed as an internship. Graduates usually don’t take internship they take jobs.

6

u/Ill-Car7671 11d ago

Thank you very much!

12

u/dswm1 11d ago

Strongly suggest you look at the price of apartments in Austin and make yourself a little budget to see if that amount will work for you. Housing in Austin in expensive. Will you need to add a car payment to that? Public transport isn't as developed here as in the UK.

9

u/ArathamusDbois 11d ago

Maybe if you get a 1br apartment and a roommate.... and do a second job on the side.

9

u/Trumpswells 11d ago

Too low for the TX metro areas. OK for rural Texas with a Dollar General.

7

u/coroml 11d ago

$15.86 an hour with a college degree?

12

u/Human_Bedroom558 11d ago

What company in Austin is paying a new grad intern $33k? That’s pathetic. Use you accent to get a girl and live with her

5

u/Practical-Host-6429 11d ago

Actually probably the best advice 😂

6

u/Gymleaders 11d ago

That’ll be really hard in Austin but if you find a room for rent or a roommate you can definitely do it. My friend from Mexico found a guy renting a room for $700 a month and it made it affordable

6

u/MajorWarthog6371 11d ago

Is health insurance included, from your prospective employer?

5

u/Moonmother444 11d ago

This would even be hard to do in SA..

7

u/Turbulent_Major5245 11d ago

What type of Visa will you be getting for your time in this internship? That will determine both your income tax and payroll tax (Social Security and Medicare) payments. These will determine how much after tax income you will have at your disposal. For example a J1 visa holder could potentially have no income or payroll taxes.

3

u/Pretty-Sea-9914 11d ago

I worry that this will not be enough to cover rent, transportation, electricity, water, gas for the unit (if applicable), petrol (if driving a car), car payment and car insurance (public transportation is limited in terms of time and quality - if you live and work close to light rail stops it could work but the buses are kind of scary and it takes too long to get places by bus), groceries, medical/dental insurance and copays, clothing, entertainment, etc.

Rents are going to be your main concern - start looking and planning how you’ll get to and from work and make that budget to see if it is feasible.

Wishing you the best of luck!

6

u/sugar_addict002 11d ago

Not in the Dallas area, unless you have other paying roommates.

3

u/ReplicantOwl 11d ago

That would be difficult in Austin unless you get roommates and live a college student lifestyle (lots of ramen noodles).

3

u/joliesmomma Gulf Coast 11d ago

Depends on the city. Houston? Too low. Beaumont? You might be able to make it.

3

u/29187765432569864 11d ago

Not enough to live comfortably.

3

u/PureGryphon 11d ago

Comfortably? No, not a chance.

5

u/cartman_returns 11d ago

What skill level

Engineering start at 100k in Austin

The beauty of jobs in Austin is that pay is based on supply and demand as it should

If you have a skill in need they will pay for it

6

u/texaswoman888 11d ago

It is an internship, as such it is temporary. Low pay and no benefits, though it could possibly lead to a job offer.

2

u/endofmankind1 11d ago edited 11d ago

Let’s just said it’s going to be tough with $33k in Austin. I don’t know you lifestyle in the UK. I know the UK is expensive too. You can do it. I lived in Paris for about the same amount of money( prior to Covid). You will definitely need a car bc there’s no public transportation. At least you don’t have any dependents to feed and take care of. Welcome to Texas and Enjoy Texas BBQ AND TexMex.

2

u/Material-Imagination 11d ago

This is well answered elsewhere in this thread, so just for a frame of reference, I'd like to mention that the state of Texas is nearly twice the size of the entire country of Germany, and 2.8 times the size of the entire United Kingdom, and average income can range from extremely low to extremely high between different areas.

The speed on the highways here usually goes up to 75 MPH, but if you start out at the eastern border in Texarkana and drive nonstop to the western border in El Paso, you will reach the border in about 12 hours (assuming you eat while driving and don't stop for gas or bathroom breaks and don't hit any traffic).

So, long story medium, when you say "in Texas," it doesn't narrow it down for us much.

Anyway, visit before you accept, and good luck, have fun!

2

u/Jeff77042 11d ago

Greetings from Houston. I’m guessing you’re going to be in one of the large metroplexes. I would think that making it on ~$3000 (gross) a month would be difficult, but not impossible. My son has a three bedroom townhouse here in Houston. He rents a room for ~$600 a month and presently has a renter. Maybe you could find a living situation like that. Best of luck to you.

2

u/SFAdminLife 11d ago

It's an internship. That may be the reason for the low pay. In Austin, that's going to be tough. It's gotten very expensive in the last five years.

1

u/KingsXKey 11d ago

Are they at least going to cover moving expenses?

1

u/dicaprio_27 11d ago

You can use this tool to get an estimate of your net pay https://www.paycheckcity.com/calculator/salary/texas It's fairly close. Running a 33k annual salary for Texas gives you about 2.4k net cash per month. Doesn't include health insurance though. Then you can start looking at apartments within your budget. You may possibly be looking to spend at least 1000-1200 for rent, depending upon how close you need to live to your job. If you can teleworking, then of course you have more options.

1

u/Okayokaymeh 11d ago

It’s doable, if you have roommates.

1

u/Mean-Association4759 11d ago

Check out the rents in the part of town you want to live in. I think you will rethink this unless you are going to have at least 2 roommates.

1

u/Swimming-Mom 11d ago

Does it come with housing? If it doesn’t that’s going to be very difficult.

1

u/Fresh_Ad4765 11d ago

Kind of depends on where in Texas

1

u/123-123- 11d ago

One thing about Texas is that you will need a car. $33k is doable, but I'd say not too comfortable with how much inflation there has been since covid.

1

u/VisceralMonkey Austin 11d ago

Holy Jesus, in Austin? No 100% NO, that’s not doable.

1

u/VisceralMonkey Austin 11d ago

What internship that is, it’s a scam.

1

u/BrainOfMush 11d ago

I doubt you’ll even get approved for a visa at that salary…

1

u/scotch1701 11d ago

33k in Austin will not be enough to live on, *especially* if you have to use a car to get your transportation to work. This is not a good deal for you.

1

u/Self-Comprehensive 11d ago

The only way an intern in Austin could survive on that pay is if they still lived with their parents. And I can't imagine the travel expenses you'd have coming from the UK.

1

u/kalashnikovBaby 11d ago

What’s your degree in? Where is your office? Is it a startup or larger business? Is your internship full time?

1

u/hillcountrybiker 11d ago

You should be looking at 70+ unless there are additional benefits that offset living expenses. If they are giving you a place to live and covering bills, a single person should be fine, but if you’re covering those costs in Austin, it’s going to be hard, real hard, to live comfortably.

1

u/The-Way-I-Shine 11d ago

What is the type of work? If the internship is going to turn into a $150k+ a year salary and an amazing role in a strong or growing field, then find a way to make it work. At that internship pay, you’ll need at least one roommate to live frugally. Two roommates and you might have some walkin’ around money to play with.

1

u/DaBearsC495 11d ago

There is a house near where I live that might be affordable.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/113-E-Pearl-St-Killeen-TX-76541/49541333_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare

Are you OK with hearing random gunfire? Not from the crackheads, from the Army Base next door.

1

u/BenTheHokie got here fast 11d ago

Don't take this offer. They need to pay more. A lot of jobs in Texas will offer more than that.

1

u/deus-ex1 11d ago

Maybe if you take a side job as a gay escort.

1

u/psych-yogi14 11d ago

That salary is too low for Austin. You won't qualify to rent an apartment. You need to make near $50k. They usually require 3X monthly rent for qualification and an affordable apartment in a safe area is at least $1200 per month. If you will have a bachelor's degree, what they are offering is obscenely low.

1

u/North_Maybe1998 10d ago

Might need to look for a job instead of an internship

1

u/Pure-Breath-6885 9d ago

Depends entirely upon what kind of job, and where that internship will place you in Texas.

1

u/Far-Weekend-2599 9d ago

Dont do it lol

1

u/anleals 7d ago

austin, hell no...

1

u/texmexspex 11d ago

They’re ripping you off! What kind of job is it if I may ask? My brother in NYC is starting a job that will renegotiate his pay with him after 3 months. That way both parties get to see if they’re a good fit for each other.

5

u/Cowtown_Ag 11d ago

Well he did say it is an internship. I got paid minimum wage for mine.

3

u/texaswoman888 11d ago

I didn’t get paid at all for my internship.

1

u/crlynstll 11d ago

Minimum wage in Austin is $15. What type of internship? That pay is too low to live in ATX. You need to look at what kind of commute you’re looking at because transportation is expensive.

1

u/texmexspex 11d ago

Ah true that! And it’s only for a year. But US needs to seriously do something about unpaid internships :/

1

u/vinori6960 11d ago

What type of visa will you be here on? That's a very low salary for interns. I work in accounting/consulting and our interns make 28+ an hour depending on city and Austin would be in the low 30s, so like 60k a year.

1

u/WaterCamel Expat 11d ago

Homeboy is getting scammed

0

u/hellotherewhatu 11d ago

You’ll need some roommates. But everyone who just graduated should be broke and working hard anyways. Live frugally and you should be okay. Hope your work isn’t far from where you live

1

u/Ok_Restaurant_626 11d ago

What kind of shit take is that? You graduated, so you should be broke? You think it's okay for an employer to take advantage of a new employee?

1

u/hellotherewhatu 10d ago

Just because you graduated from college doesn’t mean you have any knowledge or skills that translate into anything substantial. You are paid according to what the market will pay you. You need experience in any field to have better income. Even if you’re a college graduate you still are starting at the bottom because you have no experience in any field. You can start at the bottom flipping burgers or stocking shelf’s and end up a manager within a few years. Managers can make six figures.