Salary to live comfortably in Charlotte, NC

[Andy Nguyen]

I saw this on Reddit and thought it would be informative for students going to programs in NC such as NCSU, UNC at Charlotte where recent graduates make over $100K.
For students coming over from China, India, this will give them some idea the cost of living in Charlotte, the largest city in North Carolina and a large financial hub.

You can have fun in charlotte on 72k. Like in terms of material wealth you can have a better quality of life than you would in New York on 120k. I found charlotte a boring, but if for a lack of better term if your 20s and kinda finance bro, it's a city that would be fine for someone in their early 20s.

If you are single in 30s, its a lot less fun. Its a city where people go to escape New York's COL and have a house with a white picket fence on a 120k+ a year household income. The dating market is rough for professionals who are older or not white (it shouldn't matter, but it does).

The city is southern, kinda suburban, but has some of the amenities of a major city and airport. Its not as diverse as chicago, and lacks cosmospolitan energy. Its a very sports bars, retail fashion and breweries type city and if you are the type of person that likes exploring ethnic food, going to weird funky places that kind of stuff is VERY limited in Charlotte. Its not non-existent, but its far between. Its the kinda city that would be excited if a Chinese restaurant selling soup dumplings opened up.

On 70k a year in Charlotte, you can afford a nice apartment. The kind of place that would cost 4k a month in NYC for around 1k a month. Live in a cool neighborhood and have a easy commute.

If your single and don't want to have to drive everywhere (or uber a lot), you basically want to live in one of the these three neighborhoods, I'll describe. Charlotte has a useless light rail, that's best purpose is to essentially get between these neighborhoods on weekend for night life. There are a lot of other places you can live, as almost everything fun is within a 1 mile radius of downtown. The main thing is if your on the light rail is you can get more of a big city experience. Charlotte can easily feel like a giant Suburb depending on where you choose to live.

1. South End - This place is walkable, lots of breweries/bars/restaruants its probably going to be where most of young 20s finance co-workers live. The downside is its more expensive. The typical price of an apartment here 1500 to 2200 for a one bedroom, maybe 1600 for a studio. The most desirable parts of the neighborhood are near the light rail line close to uptown (here you might be able to walk to work regularly). Its cheaper the further you move away from uptown.
2. Uptown - this is where most of the bank's main offices are. It's a lot of overpriced rooftop bars and upscale restaurants. Its less fun than south end, but they are next to each other. You can live in a high rise here.
3. NoDA - Noda is basically the "brooklyn" neighborhood of Charlotte. A little funky and alternative, but genrtifying. It tends to also be slightlly cheaper than South End. Luxury Apartments are about 300$ cheaper than the equivalent place in South End. You basically want to between 24th street and 36th street if you want ot be in the action.

Other neighborhoods that are fun:

1. Plaza Midwood. Its a lot like Noda, just not on the light rail. Its only about 5 minutes from Noda or South End by Car, so you can easily get to other fun parts. The neighborhood has a lot of breweries, funky bars and cafes etc. Its not as walkable, but people love it. It is kinda a degrenerates hang out. When I lived there you could find very nice places for 12001400$ and this was in the end of 2022. If you lived in an older non-luxury apartment you could find stuff for less that.
2. Dilworth - this is next to south end. Think wine bars and cute shops etc.
3. Lower South End - This area is kinda developing, but its basically next t o south end. Lots of out door breweries. Probably 2 to 3 miles from uptown.

In terms of job market. Charlotte is Bank of America and Wells Fargo's head quarters (not officially for Wells Fargo, but in practice. They have 2 employees there for everyone in Bank of America). You have also have truist which is the 7th or 8th largest bank head quartered there, along with major operations from regions, fifth third, USAA and MUFG there. So its a great place to launch a banking career outside of high finance. The down side is it has very little buy side presence (no hedge funds, limited private equity). Some fin techs including Robin Hood and Lending Tree have some operations there etc. Over all its a great place to start a finance career if your not in the Investment Banking or S&T tracks. Corporate banking, commercial banking. Because bank of america and Wells are in Charlotte IB and S&T has some presence in charlotte, its just very limited and long term you want to move to NYC. Charlotte is a good city to also start a career and move to NYC. Its a lot less competitive for entry levelt han NYC, which has every single ivy league grad trying to break into any of the banks. In Charlotte, you can be from a local regional university (i.e. University of Georgia, Clemson, South Carolina, other SEC colleges) and still get decent roles. NYC entry level is going to have the entire Ivy League + their adjacent applying for any role.

 

[kombuchalover]

Realistically, if you’re a quant in Charlotte. You’re going to be working in corporate/commercial lending: credit risk for mortgage, auto, credit card, etc. and bonus structures for these roles look nothing like you would see in research or trading roles at buy side firms in NYC and Chicago. if it’s your first job, think 5-10% bonus on 90-120k salary.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

NCSU grads get a 110K base salary average the last 3 years from the ranking data. A lot of risk positions there.
This is a more realistic expectation for someone out of the master program with no prior experience.
Frankly, it's a lot less stressful in Charlotte than living in NYC.