You don't say on your profile page where you are located - but it is obviously in a densely populated urban area. My husband makes a good deal less than $16 an hour, yet we are a comfortable family of 3, with a mortgage and car payment, we eat well, get to go out, take a vacation, and do lots of things on only his income.
Your idea of a "living wage" is purely subjective.
Not subjective, but relative. Relative to the place you live in. You said it yourself when you mentioned "densely populated urban area".
You need warm clothes and heat in Canada or northern Russia, you do not need them in Central America. Relative thing can be objective at the same time. (Opposites: objective - subjective, absolute - relative).
Subjective can be real too BTW. For example the real pain is subjective and real. Misperception is subjective but not real. Being small or big is a relative real property - like the size of dog. Color is an absolute property - that something is blue or red is not based on comparison.