“Location, location, location”
Health Insurance is fairly level across the country. I am a HI broker for individual and groups. The average family plan is $2400-2600 per month with a $5000 deductible.
Your friend getting by on $35 k per year with a family of 7? It’s economically impossible.
That is only $5km per person per year. House payment, house taxes, car and house insurance, car payment, health insurance, property taxes, gas and utilities, clothing, food, house and car maintence and gas, phones, entertainment, Birthdays, Christmas, school supplies. etc
Either your friend is telling you a wrong amount or they are on Medicaid and food stamps.
Average family income is 90k per year. Govt poverty level is $44k a year per family. Below that they are eligible for Medicaid and food stamps in any state in the country.
As for moving to more rural areas and having larger family. My niece was born and raised in NOVA/DC as with her husband.
Are they supposed to just uproot and move away from parents and families? Easier said than done.
and, as I reported,
"The following data reflects health insurance costs and shopping trends from the 2018 Open Enrollment Period, which ran from November 1 to December 15, 2017. Average premiums and deductibles nationwide for unsubsidized shoppers: Premiums for individual coverage averaged $440 per month while premiums for family plans averaged $1,168 per month."
You can say that's not possible from your point of view as an insurance professional, so I'll be glad if you'll supply a link giving a more accurate figure.
I have no intention of finding out whether my friend Donna's family qualifies for TennCare or Food Stamps. It wouldn't surprise me if her family is considered "poverty level." My childhood family was considered "poverty level" but we lived contentedly on one wage (my father was a laundry worker, my mother a full-time homemaker). We got clothes for birthdays, we gave away cookies and went caroling for Christmas, and we had no public assistance and no debt--- but that was 50 years ago.
Having said all that --- which is all I'm going to say about Donna and her family --- it's still a fact that you can choose to live in Northern Virginia/DC and require two earners and a high income to live like they do in that ZIP code, or live in Tri-Cities TN and raise five fine sons and daughters on one income under $40,000, like they do in *that* ZIP code.
Those are choices. It depends what you want. I did not say I resented anybody's ZIP code or anybody's choice.