<prompt> Human: Im apartment hunting for the first time in about 10 years and Im struggling with whether I can afford to live alone or not. Im in metro west Boston and make about 56,000 gross. My net take home is 39,000. Should I be looking at 30 of 56k 1500-ish or closer to 1000Mo? 1500-1700 could get me into a studio, but utilities would add another 150 onto that... Ive been significantly below market the last couple years to pay down some student loan debt so this really hasnt been much of a consideration. Coming from a 5 bed 1 bath, living alone sounds much more appealing.  <response>: Ive always heard that it goes by your net take home pay a month, so Id stick with the 1000 some odd. You dont want to be house poor and not be able set money side for savings. Plus, anything beats a 5 bedroom 1 bath situation 