Posted on 06/22/2024 10:05:09 AM PDT by zeestephen
The money covers a single person's basic expenses like housing in a studio apartment, food, health care, and transportation...San Francisco: $35.98 - New York: $33.58 - Seattle: $31.93 - Washington, DC: $28.89 - Los Angeles: $26.81 - Detroit: $19.70
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
Wildly low estimates. Triple them at least.
Needs to be clear - PER HOUR!!!!!
It would be better if they translated the data into monthly income.
I always thought 2 can live as cheaply as one. Aspirin costs go up. That and the Zoloft/Prozac.
During covid I took a non-IT job and was hiring most young adults with a high school diploma and limited or no skills. More than once I had people calling out because they could not afford gas to get to work, had no family to help.
Hourly wage needed to cover basic costs: $35.98
Hourly minimum wage: $18.07 ($20 for fast food workers)
2. Boston
Hourly wage to cover basic costs: $34.02
Hourly minimum wage: $15
3. New York
Hourly wage to cover basic costs: $33.58
Hourly minimum wage: $16
4. Seattle
Hourly wage to cover basic costs: $31.93
Hourly minimum wage: $19.97 (for most workers)
5. San Diego
Hourly wage to cover basic costs: $30.46
Hourly minimum wage: $16.85 ($20 for fast food workers)
6. Washington, DC
Hourly wage to cover basic costs: $28.89
Hourly minimum wage: $17.50
7. Los Angeles
Hourly wage to cover basic costs: $26.81
Hourly minimum wage: $16.90 ($20 for fast food workers)
8. Atlanta
Hourly wage to cover basic costs: $26.63
Hourly minimum wage: $7.25
9. Denver
Hourly wage to cover basic costs: $25.85
Hourly minimum wage: $18.29
10. Portland, Oregon
Hourly wage to cover basic costs: $25.67
Hourly minimum wage: $15.45
11. Orlando
Hourly wage to cover basic costs: $25.51
Hourly minimum wage: $12
12. Inland Empire, California
Hourly wage to cover basic costs: $25.34
Hourly minimum wage: $16 ($20 for fast food workers)
13. Miami
Hourly wage to cover basic costs: $24.97
Hourly minimum wage: $12
14. Phoenix
Hourly wage to cover basic costs: $24.78
Hourly minimum wage: $14.35
15. Charlotte
Hourly wage to cover basic costs: $24.48
Hourly minimum wage: $7.25
16. Tampa Bay
Hourly wage to cover basic costs: $24.32
Hourly minimum wage: $12
17. Dallas
Hourly wage to cover basic costs: $23.84
Hourly minimum wage: $7.25
18. Chicago
Hourly wage to cover basic costs: $23.72
Hourly minimum wage: $15 (for most workers)
19. Philadelphia
Hourly wage to cover basic costs: $23.39
Hourly minimum wage: $7.25
20. Baltimore
Hourly wage to cover basic costs: $23.13
Hourly minimum wage: $15
21. Minneapolis-St. Paul
Hourly wage to cover basic costs: $22.81
Hourly minimum wage: $15.57 (starting July 1)
22. Houston
Hourly wage to cover basic costs: $21.56
Hourly minimum wage: $7.25
23. St. Louis
Hourly wage to cover basic costs: $20.39
Hourly minimum wage: $12.30
24. San Antonio
Hourly wage to cover basic costs: $20.29
Hourly minimum wage: $7.25
25. Detroit
Hourly wage to cover basic costs: $19.70
Hourly minimum wage: $10.33
Per hour...
Whoops - I thought that was in the headline.
On the other hand, what else could those numbers possibly mean?
I agree. What’s missing from this is at that these wages, a lot of their costs are shifted to the taxpayer to subsidize housing, insurance, and food. And, at these low levels, people dependent on it won’t have time or ability to gain an education to move up. It’s a trap for most people.
It would be better if they translated that into annual before tax income and after tax income with all required or otherwise normal deductions sufficient to cover all taxes.
Perhaps splitting a house with three others would be less costly.
single = poor (both in money & quality of life)
The NYC estimate looks like utter nonsense to me.
Minimum wage is not, and never was, supposed to indicate a livable wage.
Instead - it was meant as a wage to introduce new workers to the workforce when they didn't have a lot of value to offer.
Now we have people who have wasted much of their life not creating value for their skills and people like you complain that they can't survive on minimum wage.
I've busted my butt for many, many years to earn what I do - nothing was given to me by my family or the government.
My sympathy meter reads "0".
In an effort to help people create marketable value in their skills I spend quite a bit of time doing free mentorship - but I find most people are too lazy to even do that - they want me to do their work for them.
I'm not surprised you responded to the post the way you did - given your other leanings...
Not reading the article, but it seems they are ranking to most popular liberal hellholes. :)
Hello from Smalltown, NC
So a young married couple should be able to live anywhere if they’re frugal and serious about building careers. I guess that is a big if though.
And it is wrong to say they should rely on families, live at home, etc. That is not an option for many young adults, unhealthy at best.
Minimum wage should reflect what is required to pay the bills. I realize that raising the minimum wage causes prices to go up, jobs to be lost, but there has to be a balance there. A formula to work.
When it takes on average around $25 an hour to live without handouts, then the minimum wage should be $25.
This would be mostly solved if we implement E-Verify, not give work papers to illegals, deport them, and throw employers into jail who hire illegals or H1B or other visa holders instead of Americans.
Misleading. The CNBC article says it’s for “basic” costs, implying that’s the minimum the single person would need. Yet, the source it said their article uses, the Economic Policy Institute Family Budget Calculator, doesn’t say anything so dire. Instead, the EPI FBC says it is a “modest yet adequate standard of living.”
“EPI’s Family Budget Calculator measures the income a family needs in order to attain a modest yet adequate standard of living. The budgets estimate community-specific costs for 10 family types (one or two adults with zero to four children) in all counties and metro areas in the United States.”
Modest yet adequate.
Recall that Star Trek’s Mr. Spock said that to say someone or something does an “adequate” job is high praise from a Vulcan, because adequate means exactly what is needed for the job, not lacking at all (paraphrased).
“All in the Family”
circa 1970
New York City
“Meathead” lived with his wife
in the wife’s family home
for a number of years
“Sanford & Son”
circa 1973
Los Angeles
Lamont lived with his father Fred in south LA
If you are an illegal alien, then most of these expenses are covered by the hosts.
32 hour work week or 40 hour work week?
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