Utilities: Cell phone: $40-50 a month easy Internet access: $60 a month Other utilities? Electricity? Water? Garbage? $50-75 Food: $15 a day x 30 days a month= $450 (This is the low end. Have you been to Safeway lately?) going out to eat twice a week for one month? $20 bucks a plate = 160 Cable? $30-60 a month. or $110 a month Comcast cable/high speed bundle.
So, the total for those utilities you're looking at 700-900 a month, unless you can get some of those bundled with your place.
Transportation: Car? $100 a month in insurance on the low end. Car payment?: 300 a month (low end more for a new car) Gas? $100-150 Parking??? To have a car, you're talking a total of 500-700 a month in expenses. It'll be cheaper if you take the Muni, of course, but then you have to factor in occasional cab rides and car rentals if you want to go out of the city.
So, just in expenses, you're talking $1100 - 1800 a month. That doesn't include clothes, any bills that you have to pay like credit cards, or school loans. You will probably have to fly home once or twice a year to visit mom and go to the required family reunion. If you're like me, when you're living on your own in a large city by yourself, you go out a lot more often, and eat out a lot more than twice a week. That also doesn't include emergency expenses like parking tickets, car repairs, a new laptop once a year, World of Warcraft subscription, new IPod, etc...
You could probably manage on 60k a year, but it's going to be really tight. And, if you don't watch out, those credit card bills will start creeping up in a hurry. That's all I'm saying.
For a 19 yr old kid with minimal needs and few fixed expenses, 60k is fine I think. I still might recommend roommates, though you'll want to be picky. In addition to saving a ton on rent, it's nice to have people around especially when you move to a new area.
$60,000 a year. Let's say it's $42,000 after tax. That gives our pal $3,500 a month. $1600 gets him a very nice studio apartment without roommates and covers utilities (no fiber internet available, unfortunately). He has $1900 a month to buy food, clothing, and entertainment... this would be enough to eat three solid meals a day in mid priced restaurants. Food isn't particularly expensive in San Francisco either, it's not like New York. Doesn't sound like a bad standard of living to me in the slightest, unless I'm missing something.