The salary a single person needs to get by in every U.S. state
To cover living expenses in Hawaii, a single person would have to earn nearly $133,000.
$15/hour minimum wage in California. $31,200/year before taxes if working 40 hours a week. I haven't seen anything I could feasibly get hired for that pays more than $18/hour ($37,440/year).
I seriously have zero motivation to work 40 hours a week and still be fucking homeless.
I'm a disabled veteran in California. I hear you. The government chooses my quality of life and they have chosen poverty.
"Thank you for your service!"
I could feasibly get hired for
Tell me you have zero marketable skills without telling me you have zero marketable skills.
The tech sector can't find workers fast enough. Manufacturing is endlessly looking for workers. People that can string a few coherent words together are being hired on-the-spot. Just say you are lazy and drop the charade.
The tech sector can't find workers fast enough. Manufacturing is endlessly looking for workers.
I do network engineering and also have worked in manufacturing (mostly driving forklifts). Those things are indeed hiring; but they only want to pay $18/hour. How hard of a concept that is to understand?
But if you wanna pay my tuition, I'd be happy to get a degree in something instead of just being Cisco and A+ certified and just going by years of experience doing the work.
Obvious troll is obvious
The job market is horrendous in tech right now. You have no clue what you're talking about.
Articles like these are better served split up between metro city areas, burbs and rural. Vastly different numbers that are otherwise hidden by averages. 50k ain't getting you shit inside atlanta and most of the burbs. If you wanna live 2 hours out in the sticks? Sure, maybe
And have a 4 hour commute
It is very unlikely a single person is having a comfortable life in San Diego on $80k.
No shit...
It's state averages so it's not going to be enough for the most expensive areas in any of the states. That's how averages work
It’s averaged over the state. So there are places in California where you can, just not in the major cities.
Which means commuting longer to most jobs within major cities. 🤷🏿♂️
This study is averages for entire states, and therefore useless. They should have done it by county.
Italy, 22k / year after taxes and health insurance ( public health so taxes ) . 6k / year , 2 room rent. 150-220k, you buy 3 room apartment near city center , medium city. No property taxes on your first house you own. A lot of people complain about cost of houses and rents.
This can't be defined at the state level. It costs a hell of a lot more to live in San Francisco, than to live in Tulare, CA. Most states have high and low cost areas.
$14,000 down, $33,000 to go
cries in minimum wage
Then stop crying in minimum wage. The only time I made minimum wage was fast food in high school.
"Have you tried making more money?"
Fund my job search or shut the fuck up
And how long ago was that?
And federal minimum wage is $7.25 or 15,080 before taxes. Which is about 1/3rd of the lowest in this article (Mississippi at 45,906)
Name 1 job title that actually makes federal minimum wage. I dont mean service or gig workers either because that can vary wildly
Store associate. Though the ones you've mentioned only "vary wildly" because the scam that is tipping culture (no offense to those that have those jobs but all companies should pay fair wages and not impose on their customers/patrons) and gig work are short/niche/temporary work to fill a need or gaps in industries.
Let's clarify things:
Only 1.4% of US workers are paid minimum wage.
Yeah, keep pounding the "...but, but, but minimum wage" drum and lose all credibility. You are making a disingenuous argument by endlessly talking about a wage that essentially no one is making. Anyone with even the most basic skill of breathing will be making more than minimum wage, and even skill-free jobs like McDonalds have been advertising hourly rates of $10, 12, something even 15 or more an hour.
I'll keep beating the horse because even if there's hardly any jobs that pay that low, the principle of "this is the minimum amount someone needs to earn to live reasonably" doesn't keep up with the markets and the times, then it only widens the gap of what becomes poverty. Even as other comments have stated that the averages are skewed between the differences of income and cost of living in either rural or cities in these states, my statement isn't any less valid. Even the existence of such thing as minimum wage was to try and prevent companies from exploiting workers and government is meant to act and protect the interests of its populace, yet here we are where the largest type of theft is wage theft. If the government was doing their job and keeping companies in check, we wouldn't be reliving history of tent cities. If you got a good job and you're comfortable, great! Proud of you! Though don't join in others of the idea of "if people I think lesser than me can live as comfortable as I am, then that's a problem." We're all human and need the same stuff, if anyone's wants are going to get in the way of others needs, there's the real problem.
You must have missed his point about minimum wage being only 1/3 of the lowest yearly income listed in the article. When it should, for all intents and purposes, be the minimum amount a full time worker would need for a living wage. And as FDR said,
by living wages I mean more than a bare subsistence level-I mean the wages of decent living.
So, 2/3rds of the minimum amount you need, thanks for pointing out that $15 isn't enough, you are totally right that we need a higher minimum wage.
Every number you just quote from McD's are still really low. The point stands that minimum wage is way too low to do its job. It's supposed to raise working Americans out of poverty. All you've done is show that the current federal minimum wage is so pathetic you can double it and still be broke af.
Also... 1.4% of Americans is still hundreds of thousands of people. They matter. They deserve a living wage.
Why is "getting by" the goal? Shouldn't the goal be to thrive? American exceptionalism my ass
I make more than the article listed for my state, but it’s unlikely I could actually get by on my own, at least not without sacrificing some comforts like a well maintained apartment, eating every day, and paying my bills on time. Granted, I do live in the city. If I lived in the middle of nowhere my CoL would be lower, but then I’d be unemployed.
The people who live outside the city are able to find employment too. It's a myth that jobs are only in the cities. Especially so if you work in tech and can do remote work.
That's what brings these cost of living averages down - the people not living in big cities whose expenses are less.
I do work in tech, but a lot of what I do now is physical setup. I could not do my current role fully remote, and these jobs only exist in cities or in fairly large companies. Eventually I’d love to move away from the city and work remotely, but that’s not possible right now. I wasn’t trying to generalize to the population as a whole, I was making a comment on my specific experience.
This is a really good source of information by county:
One thing that people forget is that minimum wage is a factor as well. In texas a living wage is $14 and living wage of $25 in california. so you’d think you’d have a better cost of living in texas. However if you compare the minimum wage texas is $7.25 and california is $15.50.
For the amount you work, california is a better deal. However that makes it harder for people to come move to california obviously.
Lol it says living wage for my area is $20/hr. At $1,400 median cost for a 1 bedroom, closer to $2000+ typically due to prioritization of luxury condos and apartments, there’s no way in hell anyone is making a living wage at $20/hr.
Yeah everyone references this and I’m glad the tool exists, but I don’t think it’s been able to keep up with the insane inflation and rent hikes of the last two years.
It says $17.50 for a single person in my area, but there’s maybe two cockroach-infested, 600 sq ft apartments in my whole city that you could qualify for on that wage.
I also live in one of the more affordable cities in my county, so I really don’t know how they got that number for 2023 to begin with.
The cost of living minimum is $40,000+. The most I've made in a year is ≈$20,000. Something's not adding up.
They say single, so I assume they also mean living alone. Being able to pay rent etc on your own without roommates. Still, while I skimmed the article I didn't read all the nuance so I might have missed where they specified their parameters.
Edit: found it:
In Hawaii, the living wage for single workers is $112,411 — the highest in the U.S. — according to an analysis by personal finance website GOBankingRates.com. To determine the living wage in each state, GOBankingRates calculated the minimum amount a single person would need to follow the 50/30/20 budget, using data from Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Following this outline, 50% of income is used to cover necessities, such as housing and utility costs, 30% goes toward discretionary spending, and 20% is left for savings or investments.
It's most certainly adding up in shareholder value.
It would be interesting to compare home costs to income to get a ratio.
64,463 for a single person in New Jersey. I'm tying to reach that goal to make that much. Right now I make about 45,000 and am using as many programs as I can (nj snap, some energy program and more) because I'm the sole income provider for my family of 4. I currently am renting a house from a friend for 1500 and he plans to sell soon. When he does I will be screwed. I can't find rent that low. He should be renting the house I'm in for 2k a month or more. All I want to say is I'm much better off then alot of people out there and life is still a struggle.
I know DC isn't a state but I'm curious since I live here and it's way too expensive.
Try having 2 kids in a HCOL. Shit’s fucked.
Honestly how is that even possible. I'm single in HCOL and I budget every item on my grocery list, I cut my own hair, I don't even use the bus and I'm still near break even some months.
But dual income parent is probably better off than single income solo.
You make it work. Full disclosure, it’s easy for me, personally. Our household earns well. But for many, there are unpleasant compromises.
Can't. Live in Vancouver.
We both make low six figures but can't qualify for a mortgage and two bedrooms are 3800/month to start for anything suitable for our needs. Kids are right out.
Sucks brah. Sorry.
These all have to be after-tax numbers or there is definitely no way.
When I lived in the US, I didn't make enough money to afford any of these states.
About $46k per year in my state. Also, apparently I'm above average.
man, the vast majority of states are a lot lower than i would have expected.
"While couples can usually find some cost savings by splitting mortgage or rent costs, there is no such discount for single people..."
I guess having a roommate is something they've never heard of.
"getting a roommate is sometimes the only way a single person can cover their expenses."
I guess you skimmed the article.
I call bullshit on a definition of "living wage" which claims that someone making $100,000 a year is earning less than a living wage (even in Hawaii).
It looks like it is assuming paying for a mortgage and allowing like 20% for savings. They are definitely not looking at just a living wage, they are assuming home buyers that are actively saving money.
20% savings would be nice. That would be like 1500-2000 extra per month. That's comfortable.
Can confirm that these figures are very inflated. I currently live in Hawaii on half of that "living wage". Have a nice (by Hawaii standards) 2 bedroom apartment and still have over 1000 in excess income after rentutilsgroceriesgas each month.
112k is around what i would need to be making to afford a housemortgage, but its possible to "live" without.
While couples can usually find some cost savings by splitting mortgage or rent costs, there is no such discount for single people
Hilarious that the author hasn't heard of roomates
Requiring roommates to live is a joke
Is this a common sentiment? I had roommates until I was 27 and to me it was the normal way for young, single people to live. I never thought of my roommates as a burden or considered living without them a high priority. Even when I could have gotten my own studio apartment, I preferred to split a much nicer apartment with a couple other people.
Or OnlyFans!
Clearly people need to do things other than live on their regular wages or the author didn't think of it!
"Do you feel trapped by your low-rate mortgage?"
A single person with a mortgage just seems like a terrible idea, though.
Worst case I'd move back in with my parents. But being single is hard mode, shouldn't be, but it is.
But being single is hard mode, shouldn’t be, but it is.
It absolutely is. Homeownership, even with two incomes is hard enough, I can't imagine it with one.
