What dollar amount per hour could a person live on today?

[TwixVoy]

Poll question: What dollar amount per hour could a person live on today?

I am interested to see peoples opinions on what dollar amount a person could currently live on where we currently stand at in the economy today.

I realize there are hundreds of variables here so let's make things simple.

Let's assume we are talking about a single person in good health. Let's say this person is NOT living in one of the ultra high cost of living areas like NYC, parts of California, etc.

Let's say this person is working full time 40 hour weeks.

Let's say this person has the following benefits:

*Full medical coverage. Let's say $60/month premium.
*401K with match
*Pension plan
*2 weeks paid vacation
*Six paid national holidays a year

I think this sums up the "average" person in the middle working full time. So the question is - At what lowest dollar amount could this person live with out having to worry about one missed paycheck causing serious living problems?

[960]

1. I would say 15/hr on the low end.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. last numbers I saw was 21 dollars

[liberal N proud]

3. $15/hr is a little over #30K annually salary

Not much to live on.

The lowest salary on my payroll is $27 for technical personnel and goes up from there.

[Zynx]

16. Without a family you can live on $15.

Live comfortably? Not really, but you can certainly live.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

29. Not where I live

[dieselrevolver]

4. At least $15

That's for a single person, about $20+ if they need to support a family. Food prices are skyrocketing and gas won't stay under $2/gal much longer. These are tough times...

[Hekate]

5. A study in Santa Barbara showed $12/hr to be a necessary min wage here, but $15 really...

So much depends on your regional cost of living. In the Santa Barbara-Goleta urban area of Santa Barbara County you end up living with a lot of other people if you fall below that. That was several years ago, and I'm sure it's at least $15 now.

Occasionally I hire a cleaning lady, and since I read that study I no longer try to go for the legal minimum wage (i.e. what she would get working at a hotel) -- I gladly pay $12-$15/hour.

Hekate

[JuniperLea]

6. It depends on where you live...

Omaha is not Los Angeles, by any measure.

[Coyote_Bandit]

7. Too many undefined variables

Does the person own a home or rent? Te payments on a small older home can often be less than apartment rental. It builds equity but it also carries aditional expenses.

Do they live alone? Per capita expenses are usually less when people live together. And it is usually cheaper on a per capita basis to buy groceries to feed two or more rather than one.

Do they have any debts- including student loans?

Do they have pets?

Do they have adequate access to public transportation or are they required to have, use, insure and maintain a vehicle? If so, how many miles are they required to drive?

What is the climate where this person lives? Are there extreme temperatures or weather?

Is this person in good health? Or are they required to pay uninsured medical, prescription, dental or optical expenses? Even the insured often lack necessary coverage for dental and optical needs.

What kind of job does this person have? Are they rquired to provide tools or uniforms or other items in order to work?

What kind of amenities, if any, is this person provided? Cable tv with how many channels? Broadband internet? Cellphone with what features? Movies out? Dining out? Concerts or theatre? Any hobbies? Or are they only permitted to sleep and eat and go to work?

Your factual scenario assumes that the person will always have savings in an amount equal to at least one paycheck. Are you talking about an earnings level that will sustain and replace that savings if necessary? Or are there no second chances?

[TwixVoy]

8. Would be interesting in hearing from the people who voted

for min wage. Would be interesting to hear how you figure it possible?

[hfojvt]

40. I figure it's possible because I live on less right now

So I KNOW it's possible, at least in my town. Plus, there are something like 13 million households living on less than $12,500, although I don't know how they live on less than $7,500 which supposedly 5.687 million households do including 2.5 million that live on less than $2,500.

[Laelth]

9. Cost of living is low here, so I said $11.00/hr.

But that's assuming a very nice job (the one described in the OP). Over 50% of jobs in this area do not come with benefits like that.

:dem:

-Laelth

[Lady Effingbroke]

10. I lived on minimum wage (at the time, 5.15 an hour). No benefits, of course.

I lived in a travel ("FEMA") trailer.

It wasn't living, it was existing.

[TahitiNut]

11. Generally speaking, there are TEN (bank) Holidays per year.

The major companies typically recognize all ten (and often one more) as paid time off.

New Year's Day
Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Washington's Birthday
Memorial Day
Independence Day
Labor Day
Columbus Day
Veterans Day
Thanksgiving Day
Christmas Day

[virginia mountainman]

12. I know lots of people,

Who live on 7 or 8 Dollars an hour, and live fairly well, and are content.

I know several family's that make it, with two wage earners, making 7 or 8 dollars an hour, that make it.

No, they don't drive new cars, or own large houses, but most, have nice older cars, and well maintained older wooden house, or second hand mobile homes. And these people are HAPPY. Many own their own land, outright.

They hunt and grow a significant portion of their own food, clip coupons, go tent camping on a river bank for vacations, and do "under the table" work on the side. These are what we call here in the mountains "good people". They will work, all day, for you, for a cold drink, a sandwich, and 30 to 40 bucks, under the table, and they will work HARD....(I Pay them much more) They will pick roots, and moss, to sell for a few bucks. They will go around these back country roads, and drag out all the discarded appliances, and old rusty junk cars, to sell for scrap metal, and smile while doing it. These people, join the military, in much higher numbers than most, and they do it, largely because they feel an OBLIGATION to this nation.

When times of crisis happen (fires, unexpected death, accidents etc etc) These "good people" will band together with one another, and provide a helping hand, be it, in food, clothing, or cash money. They commonly lend a helping hand to all in need. You never need to ask for it, they just show up, on your porch, with lots of food, and boxes of clothing. And all they will expect NOTHING in return. To offer payment, is offensive. They are giving, without strings, a little of what they have.

I was orphaned, when I was 17, the "good people" watched over me, like hawks, "they" really helped me out thru that turbulent time. They gave me lots of clothes, a little money,and just about every night, someone in the community, "EXPECTED" me to be at their supper table.

These are my people, my wife and I do very well, much better than most in our community, but I so proud of "my people", and I do all I can to help them. A while back, I practically gave our "extra" car to a young family in need, this is how we help watch out for one another. They where "good people" it is my solemn duty, as a man, born and raised deep in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia, to help look after "my people"

Some of you on here, know them as "hicks", "hillbilly's" and "rednecks".......

And you don't give a rats ass about them.....

But I do...These are my people...

[Laelth]

18. What a beautiful post.

I am an urban Southerner, and my family has been so for many generations, so I can not relate to what you are saying, but I can respect it.

:dem:

-Laelth

[Obamanaut]

30. You made a very nice post. Thank you for it. nt

[liberal N proud]

43. Sounds like a lot of people in Iowa as well

I grew up in Iowa and knew many people that were just like you describe.

[SoCalDem]

13. It's subjective.. Depends on where they live, and family circumstances

A family "making" $20 an hr (for each working spouse) could live high on the hog , in some places, especially if they have no kids


but if they are also hleping 3 or 4 aged parents, and helping to raise a grandkid or two, and they live in northern calif...well that's another story..

Every family is different..

My son lived quite comfortably on less than $30K a year..IN southern Calif..but he was a single guy sharing a very nice house with 3 other young people..he had NO car payments and NO credit card debt..

[Mike 03]

14. I couldn't even vote on this poll out of ignorance.

When I last had a dollar per hour job, it was ten dollars an hour. And I thought I was rich.

[UndertheOcean]

15. You need about $30 atleast to live a normal life.

[virginia mountainman]

19. LOL, I have a really good wage...

No where near that.....And I, could by myself, live damn comfortably on that.

And drive fairly new "Cadillac Cars" too!!!!

It is all in how you manage, or fail to manage your money.

[Mike 03]

21. Seriously? Thirty dollars an hour? That is so hard to believe. I mean, you could

be right, but that is just so... way out from what it used to be when I was trying to make ends meet in the 90s.

[Nikia]

24. What is normal?

Most people make less than that in the US. Nearly everyone around here that I know makes less than that, including myself.

[ContinentalOp]

33. Ridiculous.

With two people earning a little over $30 an hour we live comfortably in one of the most expensive parts of the country.

[yardwork]

17. The key is the last sentence: At what level are you "safe" from a missed paycheck?

At what lowest dollar amount could this person live with out having to worry about one missed paycheck causing serious living problems?

Most of us live paycheck to paycheck. People who become ill and have to take unpaid leave, or don't have the insurance to cover needed medical procedures, often fall into the thresher. There's no safety net.

Also, I don't think that there are many jobs left that provide both a pension and 401k match. It's usually one or the other even for the lucky ones.

[RoyGBiv]

20. You can't make it that simple ...

At the risk of getting flamed, questions like this expose one reason I don't like minimum wage legislation at the national level, at least as it is currently (and likely will be for all our lifetime's) implemented.

And the comments in this thread expose the problem.

When I first moved to OKC in 2001, I took a job making $9.25/hr and had fewer benefits than you're suggesting in this hypothetical. I didn't live like a king, but I didn't do poorly. When I first moved there, I stayed with my cousin and had no money at all, not a dollar. In two months after I took the job, I got my own apartment, which was a nice townhouse in a decent area, not a rat trap. Within 6 months it was fully furnished with stuff I bought. After I'd been there a year, I was buying parts I didn't need just to tinker with my computer, putting money in savings, and taking my first week-long vacation with my mother and daughter during which I paid all the bills.

So, the 9.25/hr in OKC provided, for me, a much better living than what a lot of people have.

By the time I left OKC at the end of 2007, I was working at a different job for much more than that, but I lived in the same apartment. While planning my move I did a lot of calculations to figure out my expenses and how they were going to compare to where I was moving. While doing that I discovered that my bills of necessities had gone up in those 6 years about 5%. In short, I was doing fairly well. I was by no means wealthy, but I was comfortable given my wants and needs. The key there is I could even consider "wants."

Unfortunately, I underestimated my cost of living when I moved. I had never lived outside of Oklahoma. I knew rent would be higher and the utilities marginally higher, but I had not accounted for everything.

To make a long story short, I currently make three times what I made in 2001, but for the last year I have found myself living paycheck-to-paycheck. I have more money. However, I struggle mightily to do anything above the basic essentials, and I have not taken a genuine vacation since I've been here because I can't afford it. I have been able to visit family and friends back in OK and have gone to DC to visit a friend, and I took what was nominally a vacation but was actually a research trip that was paid for by other parties. Making less than I make here, I was taking vacations during which I stayed in hotel rooms and ate out all the time twice a year when I lived in OKC.

Location matters and cannot be factored out. Minimum wage in OKC allows a person to live much more easily than minimum wage in Houston. I can't imagine attempting it in New York or LA.

[leftofthedial]

22. in what imaginary realm have you found full medical coverage for $60/month?

try $250 minimum.

still, the figure I have found, based on my own bare minimum life, is about $17.50 per hour, provided you have one of those vanishing jobs that actually lets you work full time.

[walldude]

27. Yeah I was wondering that myself. I don't have insurance right now but

when I was working for someone else my payments were $300 a month when Clinton was in office, went up to $600 when Bush was in office. 3 years ago I started freelancing, my wife and 2 of my kids have "pre existing conditions" right now I can't get insurance for any amount of money. I offered the last company I tried to get it through $1500 a month with a $5000 deductible and was turned down.

[queenjane]

52. Depends on your company and your dependents

I work for a private university, cover just myself, and my share of health insurance is less than $60 a month. HOWEVER, that doesn't include dental and vision (which is ridiculous; it should be all-inclusive); I do pay extra for dental, but not vision, because that coverage wasn't worth the premium. My employer has a tiered system of coverage, with different plans, and premiums priced by category: single, married covering spouse, married covering children, married covering spouse AND children. Obviously, premiums increase depending on the category. While that may not sound fair, I hardly use any health benefits, while my co-workers with kids seem to always be at the doctor.

[leftofthedial]

54. wow! a job with benefits!

I had forgotten all about those!

[Nikia]

23. Around $10/hour around here if they are committed to living frugally

The problem is this is living below what is portrayed as a "normal" lifestyle so a person making $10/hour will probably spend every penny. It is nice to have home internet access, cable, and occaisionally new clothes. It is nice to go out to eat or to a concert or sporting event every once in a while. Who could blame them for that? People with more money take that all for granted.

[tabbycat31]

25. depends where they're living

New York City is a different animal than say rural Kansas.

[Forkboy]

26. My friend fits all your criteria and is barely surviving on $16/hour.

He's been falling behind since they stopped overtime where he works last November. I should also point out that his rent is cheaper than the average for the city we're in.

[uppityperson]

28. My take, with variables and your scenario

Single person, renting, minimalistic lifestyle. With the benefits you give, not owing college loans, child support, mortgage, etc.

Here are minimals, what they could get by on, assuming they rent, monthly bills. I am looking at minimalistic

Rent $500 (could drop to $400-300 if share a room or easily go higher, talking minimalistic)
Utilities $100 (basic landline, electricity or gas for heat with averaging across seasons, water. No cell, no cable)
Food $300 (could raise or lower, depending on if getting food from food bank, etc)
Transportation to work $40 (bus pass) - $250 (car, gas) (ignoring bike which would lower it further
Misc toiletries, clothing $20-200 (depending on where shopped, what quality clothing needed)

300-500
100
300
40-250
20-200
-------------
760-1350/month

$4.50-$8/hour

Edited to say again that this is what I consider basic. Not living well, but basic. Now, to figure in being able to miss one month's paycheck, I'd up it to $8-12/hour (depending on which end they were in there) and assuming the person could save enough in a yr to make up one month's pay.

[Hannah Bell]

31. half the workforce makes under $15/hour, so it would have to be that.

some of them are supporting families.

[ContinentalOp]

32. If I had stayed single and stayed in my rent controlled apartment in West Hollywood,

I could have easily still been living on $1000 a month. So that's $5.76/hr.

[Juche]

34. $10 or so

It wouldn't be an extravagant life and you'd need a roommate and a 10 year old used car, but it could be done. But you'd still be 3 missed paychecks away from poverty, not one.

[Iggo]

35. I make more than 15 bucks an hour...

...and I can't afford to live by myself.

ETA: Single, never married, no ex-wife, no child support, $300/mo garnish for the next 8 yrs.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

36. I made about $11 an hour and my wife made about $5 when she was in school.

We got by just fine.

[JonLP24]

37. I don't know how anyone would vote for $6.50?

I'm actually suprised most of the responses are $15+ which is my vote as well but I was expected people to vote around $10-$12. I think you can survive paycheck to paycheck on that but considering unexpected events you do need the $15+. But $6.50 doesn't make any sense to me.

[hfojvt]

41. see post #12

I think the people voting "over $15" are nuts and elitist. Either that or they didn't notice the "assume they are not living in a high cost area". It's insulting when you make $13 an hour and think you are doing pretty good to read that some people think it is impossible to live on less than $15. I have lived on less than $6 for many years, and it was more than just surviving, but I never had less than $1,000 in the bank either.

[Occam Bandage]

38. I think there's a difference between

"can live on," "can live on comfortably," and "can live on without any significant financial concerns, assuming responsible financial habits."

[Celeborn Skywalker]

39. I make 10/hr and it just isn't enough.

I think around 13/hr. would be about right.

[Spider Jerusalem]

42. Ten dollars an hour ($1600/month before tax).

Calculate withholding at 28%, that leaves $1152. A one-bedroom apartment in *most* midrange metropolitan areas can be had for about $500-600 a month. Food for one person for a month would run at about $200 (plus or minus depending on factors like frequency of eating out, etc). Fuel for the average automobile, another $200 a month. Telephone, Internet, gas and electric (if not included in rent) about another $100. Which leaves about $150-250 over. Assuming our hypothetical individual puts that $250 extra in the bank (instead of spending it on things he doesn't actually need), that would provide $3000 a year in savings.

The number goes up if you make the assumption that people *need* to live in mortgaged housing (which they don't) and spend hundreds a month on non-necessities (which they also don't); but what you asked was 'what COULD someone live on'.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

45. Here that $1152 would get you a one-bedroom apartment

[Spider Jerusalem]

46. Yes, but you're in the NYC metro area, no?

Or is it San Francisco?

Most places, not that expensive.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

47. Northern NJ suburbs

It's crazy expensive here. Our house is tiny and needs a lot of work, and it was $250k. A couple years ago, before the housing drop, it would have been over $300k.

[Lilith Velkor]

53. The savings would be somewhat less due to car repair/maintenance

Otherwise, you are pretty much right.

[Why Syzygy]

44. No less than $20/hr. nt

[high density]

48. $14/hr ($29k/yr) is about the bare minimum

The key is planning for missed paychecks, but saving is hard on low wages like this. When I strip out the "luxuries" from my life (new car payment, entertainment, trips, etc) it seems to float around $30k a year just to live. Rent is a third of that.

[Cresent City Kid]

49. I'm making it on $12 / hour, barely

I can cover my bills, eat well, and treat myself to satellite TV which is the only TV available in the rural area outside San Antonio where I live. There are two huge caveats. First, my workplace has no health plan. I'm on the two part plan: don't get sick, don't get hurt. And my job involves a 64 mile per day drive in a car with 150,000+ miles that leaks oil. I bought it with my FEMA check from Katrina, and I would be hard pressed to replace it.

It could be said that I'm doing okay, if nothing goes wrong. So far it hasn't, recently, but that could change overnight.

[guitar man]

50. full medical coverage for $60 a month?

You're dreaming. The single people working at my company are paying around $200. I'm paying around $450 for my family of 3. And that's for 80/20 with a $500 annual deductible on a lot of things. I'm sure "full" medical coverage would be quite a bit higher.

[Arkansas Granny]

51. On the low end in our area, I think it could be done for $10.00/hr.

This would not allow for anything other than basic living expenses.

Here's some interesting info on occupational wages by state:

http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oessrcst.htm

There's quite a bit of disparity in wages by geographic area.