The income you need to live comfortably in the 10 most expensive U.S. cities—it's over $200,000 in 2 California cities

You’ll need to earn more than $200,000 to live comfortably in some of the largest U.S. cities, a new analysis by GoBankingRates reveals. That’s more than twice the U.S. median household income of $83,730.

The analysis examined the 50 most populous U.S. cities using Sperling’s BestPlaces cost-of-living index, which measures how average local prices for housing, groceries, transportation and other essentials differ from the national average.

It then adjusted Bureau of Labor Statistics spending data to reflect those local cost differences and combined the results with home values from Zillow, applying a 6.35% mortgage rate to estimate typical monthly payments for homeowners. (Housing costs for renters were not included in the study.)

From there, GoBankingRates estimated the household income needed to cover basic necessities following the 50/30/20 budgeting rule — which assumes essentials account for about half of a household’s income — doubling that figure to define a “comfortable” salary.

Unsurprisingly, the cities where you need the biggest paycheck are also the ones with the steepest housing costs, which are typically a household’s largest monthly expense.