Can a Nuclear Engineer afford to live in Raleigh?

Excellent60% of take-home left to save โ€” you can save aggressively here.
Median salary (gross)
Nuclear Engineer ยท Raleigh
$120,563
Income tax (~30% effective)
United States
โ€“ $35,634
Take-home pay
$7,077/mo
$84,929
Living costs (1 person)
$2,800/mo ยท derived
โ€“ $33,600
Savings potential
$4,277/mo ยท 60% of take-home
$51,329

Single professional, after-tax. Salary โˆ’ tax โˆ’ living costs = what you could save each year.

How we calculated this

โ€ข Salary: BLS OES median for Nuclear Engineer, adjusted for Raleigh.

โ€ข Tax: United States single-filer effective rate (~30%). Official calculator.

โ€ข Living costs: derived from cost-of-living index for a single professional.

Planning estimates, not financial or tax advice. Updated 2026. Your situation will differ.