Not clear if it includes compulsory retirement savings though. In Australia you get 9% of your salary paid into a retirement savings account. If the "income" figure includes things like that then that might explain the higher apparent savings rate.
I have the added expense of flights every now and again since I'm working in the US but my girlfriend and family are in Australia. It's a temporary arrangement. But without that my savings rate would only be a little bit higher. Maybe 45% instead of 35%.
Yeah, you're not on average wage. HN is awfully biased, and I'm certain almost none of us here have actually lived on minimum to average wage for a long time.
Include comment about personal experience under this post.
More realistically, that same amount is a small studio in e.g. Austin, TX.
Now, the trick is that the average income might be $55,836.79, but the median personal income is ~$41,520 [1]
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_income_in_the_United_...
I know that would not be possible in all markets, but it would take the same HN bias you mentioned to think that everyone lives in SF or NYC.
I am not renting my own place, I'm in a share house. My rent is US$900 per month (including utilities).
A more accurate calculation shows that this is about 27% to 28 % of my after tax income.