How Much Money Do You Need to Live Independently in Each State
For young millennials or Gen Zers looking to live on their own for the first time, it is not always easy to calculate how much money you will need to live comfortably. There are all kinds of costs to consider, and they often differ depending on where you want to live. Fortunately, the new tool calculates these costs and estimates the minimum income needed to live in every state or major US city.
How the living wage tool works
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Living Wage Tool determines whether an individual has sufficient income to live in an area using local estimates of food, childcare, medical, housing, and transportation costs. The figures are broken down by the number of children and the number of working parents in the family.
The calculator displays the “living wage” for a given state or city to survive, the “poverty wage” (the wage threshold required for federal assistance), and the minimum wage in that state or city. While the term “living wage” usually refers to the minimum annual income required to qualify for federal exclusion, the tool takes into account additional costs that would normally not be included in these calculations , such as health care or day care costs. However, this is still a minimal estimate as the tool does not account for discretionary spending such as entertainment or vacations.
The difference between regions can be striking: the minimum annual cost of living required to live in Manhattan is $ 41,600, which is $ 12,000 more than you need to live in Texas. (Figures based on the assumption that there are 2080 hours of work per year, or 40 hours a week). The difference between the two is almost entirely related to housing costs and taxes.
Given these inequalities, the decision to live independently will largely depend on where you choose to live. In this case, it may be wise to either save up or live some time on your own in your home state before moving to an expensive city.
Distribution of minimum living wages by state
To find out more about the minimum living wage in each state, here is a good breakdown provided by Clark.com :
- Alabama : $ 28,652
- Alaska : $ 31,333
- Arizona : $ 31,077
- Arkansas : $ 27,652
- California : $ 38,823
- Colorado : $ 34,009
- Connecticut : $ 33,240
- Delaware : $ 31,868
- Florida : $ 30,825
- Georgia : $ 31,940
- Hawaii : $ 40,412
- Idaho : $ 29,007
- Illinois : $ 31,975
- Indiana : $ 27,955
- Iowa : $ 28,327
- Kansas : $ 28,093
- Kentucky : $ 28,048
- Louisiana : $ 29,251
- Maine : $ 31,043
- Maryland : $ 35,879
- Massachusetts : $ 36,889
- Michigan : $ 28,354
- Minnesota : $ 30,997
- Mississippi : $ 27,936
- Missouri : $ 28,535
- Montana : $ 29,004
- Nebraska : $ 28,234
- Nevada : $ 28,442
- New Hampshire : $ 30,089
- New Jersey : $ 33,696
- New Mexico : $ 29,057
- New York : $ 38,729
- North Carolina : $ 30,617
- North Dakota : $ 27,211
- Ohio : $ 27,369
- Oklahoma : $ 28,133
- Oregon : $ 35,050
- Pennsylvania : $ 27,861
- Rhode Island : $ 30,763
- South Carolina : $ 30,328
- South Dakota : $ 26,225
- Tennessee : $ 27,563
- Texas : $ 29,134
- Utah : $ 30,211
- Vermont : $ 31,057
- Virginia : $ 34,552
- Washington : $ 33,982
- Washington DC : $ 41,850
- West Virginia : $ 27,837
- Wisconsin : $ 29,160
- Wyoming : $ 27,425