4 ms·
The listed numbers are 5k to 7k per month in take home pay for singles. Calling that "poverty line" sounds like peak HN.
by em500 4y ago
The listed numbers are 5k to 7k per month in take home pay for singles. Calling that "poverty line" sounds like peak HN.
- 404mm 4y agoHi, I don’t mean to sound entitled. Here is my reasoning/ breakdown. Example 1- DFW: $65,000 in a state with not income tax gets you about $4600/month. That does not include medical benefit deductions, HSA or 401k. You can pay easily half of the leftover in rent and utilities on a small apartment. Not much room for saving or car payment. Owning a house is out of question entirely unless you had some previous savings or significant equity. Example 2- LA: The situation is much worse in LA. $75k after taxes gets you $4980, while the costs of living are significantly higher compared to DFW. I see that as surviving, not living comfortably.
- em500 4y agoHere's the minimum expense breakdown for DFW from MIT which the article is based on: https://livingwage.mit.edu/metros/19100 https://livingwage.mit.edu/metros/19100 (totaling $32,371 for a 1 adult 0 child household, for which they use a zero-bedroom apartment). Note that the median household income pre-tax is $58.2k (Dallas, 2.5 persons/household) to $67.9k (FW, 2.8 persons/household). So a single earning 65k after tax complaining that that's near poverty line sounds pretty entitled to me. (For LA the median gross income is $69.8k for 2.75 persons/household.) https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/dallascitytexas,fortworthcitytexas,stpaulcityminnesota,minneapoliscityminnesota/PST045221 https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/dallascitytexas... https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/losangelescitycalifornia https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/losangelescitycalifornia
- 404mm 4y agoThese are pre-covid numbers in the MIT breakdown. A lot has changed.