The Cost of Living Like Your Favorite Sitcom Family

November 2024 by couponlab

How much does it cost your favorite sitcom families to live their day-to-day lives? We went in search of the answers.

The Cost of Living Like Your Favorite Sitcom Family 2

Table of Contents

THE SIMPSONS

Though the show never mentions what state the Simpsons live in, creator Matt Groening has alluded to Springfield, Oregon, as the home of the Simpsons.

Homer’s salary: $51,544 a year
The Simpsons’ house: $182,500 (a $1,384 monthly mortgage)
Groceries: $1,465 a month for a family of five (including a voracious husband)
Homer’s tab at Moe’s Tavern: $264 a month (not counting tips)

OUR CALCULATIONS:

Salary: We calculated the average salary for a nuclear safety inspector in Springfield, Oregon.
Housing: Their home is the median price for a house in Springfield, Oregon.
Groceries: The average monthly cost for a family of two adults and two school-age children is $1,291 if you’re on the “liberal” food plan (which we think you would have to be with Homer in the family). We added Maggie for $174 a month, the average cost of a “liberal” plan for a year-old baby.
Homer’s tab at Moe’s: Homer drinks Duff, an American lager we figure is similar to Coors Light. Coors Light costs an average of $3 per bottle at bars across the U.S. We then estimated that Homer is in the top 20 percent of American drinkers, probably consuming around 15 drinks per week. That’s $45 a week, which adds up to $2,340 each year.
The Complete Seasons: Available here

For more information on the Simpsons’ cost of living in Springfield, click here.

RUGRATS

Housing: The Rugrats’ house in Yucaipa, California, would cost $293,000 (a $1,461 monthly mortgage).
Salary: $40,843/year
Groceries: $799 a month for Tommy’s family, including his little brother, Dill
Reptar toys: Though Tommy’s dad, Stu, is a toy inventor, he doesn’t own the rights to the Reptar franchise, so the family still needs a toy budget. Tommy’s family would spend $742 yearly on toys. For all the kids in the show combined, toys would cost $2,226 annually.
Family dog: Keeping the Pickles’ family dog, Spike, happy and healthy would cost $567 a year.

OUR CALCULATIONS:

Housing: $293,000 is the median price for a home in Yucaipa.
Salary: Didi is a part-time teacher and child psychologist. Assuming she works two eight-hour days a week as a teacher and two eight-hour days as a child psychologist, she would bring home $40,843 a year.
Groceries: The Pickles family is on the “moderate” food plan for one adult male, one adult female, and two infant boys (Tommy and Dill).
Reptar toys: The average amount spent on toys for one child each year is $371, and we multiplied that by all six kids on the show.
Pet care: We added the cost of dog food, grooming, and annual vet visits in Yucaipa.
The Series: Unfortunately, they only have the movie trilogy; However, Nickelodeon is coming out with its network called The Splat, which is geared towards 90’s shows.

FAMILY GUY

Housing: A house in the fictional town of Quahog, Rhode Island, would cost $219,100 (a $1,038 monthly mortgage).
Salary: Holding down a reliable job isn’t Peter’s strong suit (or Lois’, for that matter), but his steadiest career to date has been at the Happy-Go-Lucky Toys factory. In this job, Peter would bring home about $23,320 a year.
Groceries (for the humans): $1,169/month
Dog food: $21/month
Peter’s tab at The Drunken Clam: $480/month (not counting tips)
Cost of the custom Petercopter (new): $463,800 plus $11,658 yearly in insurance and $111 per hour of operation.

OUR CALCULATIONS:

Housing: $219,100 is the median price for a house in Rhode Island.
Salary: We calculated the average salary for a toy factory worker.
Groceries: This is the food plan for one adult male, one adult female, and two teenagers. But remember that caloric intake can vary drastically depending on weight and height.
Dog food: We calculated the average cost of food for a medium-sized dog like Brian.
Freakin’ Sweet Party Pack: The complete collection of Family Guy for $42.99

KING OF THE HILL

Housing: A house in fictional Arlen, Texas, would cost $217,700 (a $1,030 monthly mortgage).

Salary: Hank would bring home about $51,000 a year as a propane salesman.

Groceries: $1,165 a month

Beer: $119 a month

Lawn upkeep: $17 a month (including gas for the riding mower and lawn watering costs)

OUR CALCULATIONS:

Housing: $217,700 is the median home price in Richardson, Texas, a town whose creator Mike Judge has said was an inspiration for the fictional Arlen.
Salary: Hank works as a mid-level propane salesman. We calculated $51,000 as the average salary for a mid-level propane salesman in Texas.
Groceries: $1,165 a month is the “liberal” plan for one adult male, one adult female, one female teen, and one male teen.
Beer: Hank drinks Alamo beer, which we believe is close to Lone Star, a cheap Texas beer. Lone Star costs about $3.50 a bottle at bars, and we figure Hank drinks about 34 beers a month (give or take).
Lawn upkeep: This is the irrigation and mower gas price for a lawn of about 10 feet by 10 feet.
If you can’t get enough Hank, you can pick up the seasons here

MARRIED WITH CHILDREN

Housing: A house in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois, would cost $187,400 (a $904 monthly mortgage).
Salary: Al would bring home about $15,000 a year as a shoe salesman. No wonder Peggy nags him about his low paychecks.
Groceries: $1,048 a month
Cost of running NO MA’AM: Al Bundy’s pro-men organization, NO MA’AM, probably raised donations for projects like starting a baseball team and opening a church, but it still would spend about $304 a month on bowling and beer.
Peggy’s hair: One blowout each week at a mid-priced salon would cost the Bundys $192 a month.

OUR CALCULATIONS:

Housing: $187,400 is the median house price for the suburbs of Chicago.
Salary: Shoe salespeople don’t make much, and Al is no exception. $15,000 is the average annual salary for a shoe salesman in the Chicago area.
NO MA’AM: A cheap local bowling alley costs $9 per game and $4 per shoe rental (per person). We figure four critical NO MA’AM players have to go bowling at least four times a month and buy at least three beers each time.
Groceries: We calculated what it would cost to feed two adults and two teenagers a month, then added the cost of five boxes of bonbons for Peggy.
Peggy’s hair: We figure Peggy needs at least a weekly blowout to keep up her prized hair.
The cost of watching is $29.99

THE BRADY BUNCH

Housing: The Brady Bunch house is in Studio City, California. Today it would sell for no less than $2.1 million (a $13,479 monthly mortgage).
Salary: As a city councilman, Mike Brady would earn a handsome salary of $178,789. But he’s also an architect, a job that brings in $88,741 a year. Altogether, Mike Brady would make $267,530 yearly.
Groceries (including Alice, the housekeeper): $2,366 a month or $28,393 a year
College: Assuming all the kids went to public universities in California, college tuition for the six Brady kids would cost the family $55,038 annually. Textbooks would cost the family another $18,000.

OUR CALCULATIONS:

Housing: $2.1 million is the median price for an eight-bedroom house in Studio City, California.

Salary: We looked at the average salary of an architect combined with the average salary of a city councilman, both in Los Angeles.

Groceries: We calculated the “moderate” plan for the six Brady kids, the two parents, and housekeeper Alice.

College: The average tuition price of a four-year public university in California is $9,173 per year. Assuming all the kids went to public universities in California, college tuition for the six Brady kids would cost the family $55,038. Textbooks would cost the family another $18,000 (the average student spends $1,500 on books each semester).

The Shag Carpeting: Get this version of the complete series for $76.66.

FULL HOUSE

Salary: Danny would make $51,000 yearly as a TV co-host, while Uncle Jesse would make $42,000 from his work in the advertising business. As a stand-up comedian, we can safely assume Joey is bringing in next to nothing. Altogether, the adults of the household make $93,000 a year.
Housing: A house in San Francisco costs the family $1,155,000 (ouch!). That’s a monthly mortgage of $6,829.
Groceries: $2,178 a month or $26,146 a year
Uncle Jesse’s hair products: $29 a month (one bottle of high-quality volumizing mousse and one bottle of high-quality hair gel)

OUR CALCULATIONS:

Salary: We looked at the median salary for a local San Francisco TV co-host (Danny) and combined it with the median wages of a radio host (Uncle Jesse) and a comedian/part-time TV & radio show host/substitute teacher (Uncle Joey).
Housing: $1,155,000 is the median price of a house in San Francisco. Yes, you read that right.
Groceries: We calculated the “moderate” plan for three men, one woman, the three Tanner girls, and Nicky and Alex Katsopolis (Jesse and Rebecca’s twin boys).
Uncle Jesse’s hair products: We figure Jesse would spring for the good stuff since his hair is of utmost importance to him. One bottle of high-quality volumizing mousse costs $8.29 on Amazon.com, and one bottle of high-quality hair gel costs $21.05.
You can get the complete series here