hipstercrite says

Congratuations graduate! Eight great tips on how to survive — and thrive — inyour post-college life

You've graduated. Congratulations!

Now — welcome to the jungle. We've got fun and games. Life's not exactly like Axl Rose's "Welcome to the Jungle", but sometimes it kind of is. Sometimes it will make you bleed, sometimes it will bring you to your knees and sometimes you learn to live like an animal. Sometimes you're forced to feel Axl's serpentine.

Yeesh, that sounded mighty jaded, but I'm turning 29 this year so I've developed that obnoxious, "I know everything about your 20s!"-mentality now. The sort of mentality I like to spew upon younger people whether they like it or not.

Like right now. Here are a few things I've learned that might help you, too:

It's OK if you don't like your career

There is a good chance that you'll discover the career you went to school for, you end up despising more than all of MTV's programming once you try it in the real world. It's OK if you want to switch careers; it's not a sign of failure. In fact, most twenty-somethings will change jobs seven times before they reach the age of 30. Even if your grandmother is all like, "Why do you change so many jobs?!" you can say, "Because it's no longer the 1950s!"

It's OK if you want to switch careers; it's not a sign of failure. In fact, most twenty-somethings will change jobs seven times before they reach the age of 30.

Any job is better than no job

Some of you may argue this, but I come from the mindset that any job is better than no job. In this economy it's tough to find employment, especially in specific fields. It's time to stop mooching off Ma and Pa and get workin'.

Even if it's working at Starbucks, some work experience is better than no work experience. Plus, you'll have the satisfaction of knowing that you're taking care of yourself and meeting others.

Don't date douchebags / douchbaguettes

But you're going to, because it's fun and exciting OR even if you don't want to, you'll find yourself subconsciously drawn to the douchebags / douchbaguettes before you even know they're douches. Do yourself a favor and try to nip this behavior in the bud while you're still young — it will save you a lot of lost time and heartache. It will also prevent you from looking back on your early twenties and cringing to the point of pulling a neck muscle.

Don't be a flake

It's easy, in your early twenties, to be a crappy friend. Sometimes it's hard to be there for others when you're trying to figure your own shit out. No matter how introverted, confused or frustrated you may feel about yourself, try to be a good friend. Friends are the ones there for you once you leave the house and are out on your own. Sometimes you won't be sure who you're real friends are, but over time, it will become apparent (i.e. the one that drunkily defriends and friends you on Facebook every other day depending on how they feel about life is probably not a real friend).

Listen to your folks

They're not as full of shit as you think they are. In fact, they typically have your best interests at heart. You know, they kind of gave birth to you and know you as well as you do. It's easy to think they're out of touch, but they went through the same early twenty-something cray-cray years just like you.

No matter how introverted, confused or frustrated you may feel about yourself, try to be a good friend.

Try everything once

But be smart about it. If it could potentially hurt you or someone else, don't do it. You only live once and at some point you might settle down, so live up your 20s (responsibly) while you still can. This is in order to prevent you at 45 from creepily staring at 20-year-olds on The Drag and whispering, "I was you once" over and over.

Nightlight photos of you drunk as a goat at Barbarella while flashing side boob/flipping off the camera with an apathetic look on your face is only endearing to you and you alone

Believe me, you don't think potential employers or connections look at those photos?

Pay your debts

You might accumulate some debt through your twenties. Pretending like they don't exist is not the best way to handle it. You may think that in seven years that mark on your credit will disappear, but creditors are hungry nowadays and will threaten lawsuits or harass the living crap out of you. Paying your debts, even if it's just $25 a month, will save you a lot of potential stress and worry.

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Stretching the budget

A $100,000 salary in 2026 goes further in Houston than it did last year

Photo by Leo Yao on Unsplash

$100,000 stretches a little further in 2026.

A 2026 income study has good news for big earners in Houston: A six-figure salary goes further than it did last year.

A Houston resident's $100,000 salary is worth $84,840 after taxes and adjusted for the local cost of living, according to the new financial analysis from SmartAsset. That's about $1,500 more than Houstonians were bringing home last year.

The 2026 take-home pay is about eight percent higher than it was in 2024, when the same salary had an adjusted value of $78,089.

SmartAsset used its paycheck calculator to apply federal, state and local taxes to an annual salary of $100,000 in 69 of the largest American cities. The figure was then adjusted for the local cost of living (which included average costs for housing, groceries, utilities, transportation, and miscellaneous goods and services). Cities were then ranked based on where a six-figure salary is worth the least after applicable taxes and cost of living adjustments.

Houston ranked No. 60 in the overall ranking of U.S. cities where $100,000 is worth the least. If the rankings were flipped and the cities were ranked based on where $100,000 goes the furthest, that places Houston in the No. 10 spot nationwide.

Manhattan, New York remains the No. 1 city where a six-figure salary is worth the least. A Manhattan resident's take-home pay is only worth $29,420 after taxes and adjusted for the cost of living, which is 3.10 percent lower than it was in 2025.

SmartAsset determined Manhattan has a 29.7 percent effective tax rate on six-figure salaries. Meanwhile, the effective tax rate on a $100,000 salary in Texas (based on the eight cities examined in the report) is 21.1 percent. It's worth highlighting that New York implements a statewide graduated-rate income tax from 4-10.90 percent, whereas Texas is one of only eight states that don't tax residents' income.

Oklahoma City, No. 69, is the U.S. city in the report where a $100,000 salary stretches the furthest. A six-figure salary is worth $91,868 in 2026, up from $89,989 last year.

This is the post-tax value of a $100,000 salary in other Texas cities, and their ranking in the report:

Plano (No. 27): $72,653
Dallas (No. 47): $80,103
Austin (No. 53): $82,446
Lubbock (No. 59): $84,567
San Antonio (No. 62): $86,419
El Paso (No. 67): $90,276
Corpus Christi (No. 68): $91,110

According to the report, getting some "financial breathing room" by making six-figures really depends on where someone lives and what their lifestyle is. For residents living in the 42 states that levy some amount of income tax, their take-home pay dwindles further.

"And depending on how taxes are filed, reaching a $100,000 income may push a household from the 22 percent to 24 percent marginal tax bracket," the report's author wrote. "Meanwhile, locations with high costs across housing and everyday essentials may be less forgiving to a $100,000 income."

smartasset income finance six figures