<prompt> Human: First of all, thank you for any helpadvice you can provide.Heres my situation:23m, single, no dependents or pets, no debtIncome: 48k salary bonustake home is about 2450month after deductions taxes, 401k, health careI also have about 10k in savingsmy company pays for: my car including gas, insurance, registration, my phone bill, 50 of my internet billpersonal expenses: rent, utilities, food, gym membership, and honestly way too much on women and eating outIm moving in a few months and looking at new apartments. The advice Ive heard is to spend about 30 of your income on rent, but Im not sure if this is pre or post-tax income. Pre-tax this would leave me with about 1200 to spend, post-tax about 650. This is obviously a huge difference. Living in the Baltimore area, 650 rent would buy me 1 a cardboard box in a nice area or 2 a shitty apartment in a really rough area. I think I found an apartment I like in a pretty nice area Catonsville for about 1100month not including electric or cable, but everything else. My question is this: Can Ishould I afford this?  <response>: That rule of thumb is directed towards your post-tax income, and included utilities as well. Since your car, phone, and internet are paid for then you could have more to throw at rent, but even if your paid utilities come to only 100 youre still looking at 50 of your take home going to rent. Maybe its not ideal, but a room mate sounds like a good idea if you want to live in that area. 