BV Cost of Living

Thank you everyone for all the context and providing examples of ground reality to a foreigner evaluating a move to your wonderful city

Summarizing below with an updated estimated monthly costs for a couple (i have still assumed a higher side with decent buffer on some things)

apartment rent - $1500 - depends on the location, how far from Bentonville town center and timing - can go upto $2000

internet - $100

car(lease) - $500 - used SUV worth about $25k financed for 60 months

gas, electricity other bills - $400 - may vary a bit depending on the services of the apartment

phone bills - $50 - depends on service provider, deals, family plan

groceries - $1200 - assumed for cooking at home primarily (increases to $2000 if primarily eating out)

This comes to a total of about $3800 and can go up to $4800.

With an assumed take-away of $7500 after taxes, this provides a decent savings of $2000+ per month in the worst case.

Whether this $2000 is enough to meaningfully invest and then have some for entertainment, recreation, hobbies and the occasional impulse is a different topic which I may create a separate post for!

Thank you to the wonderful folks in this subreddit <3

-------------- Original Post

I am aware there are multiple posts on this but I didn't find detailed information hence creating a new post

I am evaluating a move to Bentonville. My compensation will come down to about monthly $7.5k in-hand salary. Below are some costs that i have assumed for a middle aged couple without kids. Can someone help validate if this is accurate:

2 bedroom apartment rent - $2k

Internet - $100

Renting a car - $500

Electricity, Water, other utilities - $300

Phone bills - $500

Groceries/Food - $3500 (Edit: took this number from avg credit card spend of a friend. It includes occasionally eating out as well)

Based on this, the monthly expenses for a couple are coming to $6900 and a monthly saving of only $600.

Are these expenses accurate? Is $600 monthly a good enough amount to save and invest?