Median household income is going to consider a lot of single people; the parent post said "supporting a family". The income thresholds for the US Department of

Median household income is going to consider a lot of single people; the parent post said "supporting a family". The income thresholds for the US Department of Housing and Urban Development[1] (HUD) seem to be the best location-adjusted standards for poverty (the federal poverty thresholds[2] are the same for all mainland states). HUD's 2021 numbers for households of 3-5 people in San Francisco: | | 3 PERSON | 4 PERSON | 5 PERSON | |-----------------+----------+----------+----------| | EXTR LOW INCOME | 49,350 | 54,800 | 59,200 | | VERY LOW INCOME | 82,250 | 91,350 | 98,700 | | LOW-INCOME | 131,750 | 146,350 | 158,100 | So, supporting a spouse and 1 kid in SF, 150k is just 14% above "low income". But just eyeballing the federal poverty thresholds to the HUD numbers for other locations, it looks to me like the "extra low income" number is the one most comparable to the poverty threshold; in that case, you are correct, 150K is not anywhere close to the poverty line. [1]: https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/il/il21/Section8-IncomeLimits-FY21.pdf https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/il/il21/Section8-Inc... [2]: https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/cps/tables/time-series/historical-poverty-thresholds/thresh20.xls https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/cps/tables/time-ser... -- lukeshu (some guy who has never even been to California)