Could you survive in…?: An Interactive Living Wage Tool
What does it take for a family to get by in your college town? In your hometown? In…Random County X, Alaska?
You can find the answer to all these questions with the Economic Policy Institute’s Basic Family Budget Calculator. The results are really fascinating and might come as a shock. Taking just one example: a single parent supporting three children in Washington DC requires an annual income of $86,612.
Compare this to $12,876—what someone working 1776 hours (the US annual average for 2009) at minimum wage makes in a year—and yeah…. Not good. Not good at all.
Important to note that, unlike the federal poverty line, the EPI Calculator is based on real costs like fair market housing for the metro area, average cost of child-care, average commuter costs, etc.
This is a handy tool, worthy of a bookmark in this blogger’s opinion. Good to keep in mind to use as a point of comparison for when/if you learn how much workers at your campus make.
Photo by Breakmould via Flickr.
