Much has been made about Nashville's soaring cost-of-living, and a new report shows just how unaffordable Music City has really become. According to an article in the Tennessean, the average cost of living "comfortably" in Nashville has skyrocketed 15% in just a year, and now sits at $80,458 per year.
On the other hand, salaries in Nashville have not kept up with the cost of living. The mean income for a Nashville resident sits at just $49,891, well below the national average of $55,300.
The $31,000 gap between mean income and cost of living comfortably is one of the largest in the country - greater than New Orleans, Portland, Raleigh, Minneapolis, and Washington D.C. Philadelphia and San Francisco are two of the only cities with a larger discrepancy.
To define "living comfortably", GoBankingRates.com uses a 50-30-20 model in which 50% of your income goes to necessities, 30% to "wants", and 20% to savings.
For the record, only one of the 50 largest metro areas (Virginia Beach) has a median income higher than the average cost of living comfortably.
So, based on that data, could you live "comfortably" in Nashville?