A $100K salary isn’t enough to live on in these cities — including 2 in Mass. (2025)

A recent analysis found that Boston and Worcester were among the top 25 U.S. metros, where $100,000 a year may not be enough for a family of three to get by.

An analysis from LendingTree released April 14 found that in one out of four large metro areas in the United States, a monthly income for a family of three that makes $100,000 a year is not enough to cover basic expenses for the family.

The analysis found that in 25 of the 100 largest U.S. metros, monthly spending on basic expenses such as childcare, housing, utilities, and transportation is greater than the monthly income for a family of three earning $100,000 annually.

The analysis based their calculations on a family of three (two adults and a child) that earns a gross income of $8,333 monthly. The analysis then takes the total amount of dollars spent monthly on basic needs and subtracts that number from $8,333.

Among the 25 metros, Boston has the third most expensive monthly expenditures.

In Boston, $9,946 is spent on monthly expenditures, leaving a family of three with a net monthly income of -$1,613, according to LendingTree.

The first and second most expensive monthly expenditures for a family living in Boston are childcare ($2,232 a month) and housing ($2,077 a month). The third most expensive expenditure is transportation, costing $1,203 monthly, followed by food at $1,112 a month.

Worcester was ranked as the metro with the 14th most expensive expenditures.

A family of three pays $9,032 in monthly expenditures in Worcester, according to the analysis.

Like Boston, childcare and housing are the first and second most expensive expenditures, with Worcester families having to pay $2,040 a month for childcare and $1,403 a month for housing, the analysis found.

Families spend $1,324 monthly on transportation and $1,017 monthly for food in Worcester. In total, a family of three making $100,000 a year in the Worcester metro would be left with a net monthly income of -$699.

The first and second most expensive metros in the study were San Jose and San Francisco, California, where monthly expenditures cost $10,540 and $10,137, respectively.

The Connecticut metros of Bridgeport, New Haven and Hartford were in the top 25, ranked at number 15, number 21 and number 22 respectively.

In Bridgeport, a family of three making $100,000 a year would be left with a net monthly income of -$677 after spending $9,010 a month.

A family of three in New Haven would have a net monthly income of -$119 after spending $8,452 monthly while a family of three in Hartford would have a net monthly income of -$90 after spending $8,423 monthly, according to the analysis.

These are the 25 cities too expensive to live on $100,000:

1. San Jose, Calif.
2. San Francisco, Calif.
3. Boston, Mass.
4. Honolulu, Hawaii
5. Oxnard, Calif.
6. Washington, D.C.
7. Los Angeles, Calif.
8. San Diego, Calif.
9. Seattle, Wash.
10. Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
11. New York, N.Y.
12. Riverside, Calif.
13. Sacramento, Calif.
14. Worcester, Mass.
15. Bridgeport, Conn.
16. Denver, Colo.
17. Stockton, Calif.
18. Baltimore, Md.
19. Portland, Ore.
20. Minneapolis, Minn.
21. New Haven, Conn.
22. Fresno, Calif.
23. Hartford, Conn.
24. Colorado Springs, Conn.
25. Bakersfield, Calif.