A Seattle Family of Four Needs $75,000 to Pay For Basic Needs

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

A new UW report shows that the cost of living, especially for families with children, has risen dramatically across the state. In Seattle, a family of four needs $75,000 per year to cover basic living needs, which is a 62 percent increase from 2006, UW News reports.

The Self Sufficiency Standard for Washington state, which has been calculated since 2001 and released every three years, shows how much people would need to make to cover the cost of living without support from the government or other people. You won't be surprised that it's easiest to live somewhere like Asotin County (way down in the southeast corner of the state), where a family of four only needs about $50,000 — and that King County is the most expensive place to live. But despite the regional differences, the trend across the state has been massive increases in the cost of living, that outpace wages.

UW News: "According to the report, families of any size, in even the least-expensive counties, cannot get by on the state’s $11 hourly minimum wage. Only single adults, in some counties, can survive on $11 an hour or less."

Also: "Between 2000 and 2014, the average wage in Washington grew 12.5 percent, according to the state Office of Financial Management. During approximately the same timeframe, a family of four needed an average of 46 percent more to get by, the 2014 Self-Sufficiency Standard reported."

http://www.thestranger.com/slog/2017/10/11/25464147/a-seattle-family-of-four-needs-75000-to-pay-for-basic-needs

[WinstonSmith00]

1. A basic standard of living is a right

For every living soul.

[LisaM]

2. They need to do something about housing costs NOW.

Undo the law that makes rent control illegal.

By a huge margin, my biggest bill is rent. It's also the item that goes up and up and up with no end in sight. Buy something? HA!! I came within a hair's breadth of being able to do that after the housing bubble burst last time, but I couldn't quite get there and now I think it's never going to happen.

[DK504]

3. But everyone is saying everything is great because

the stock market is at 23K. (Holy crap!!!) And 'unemployment" is so low. No one is talking about no health insurance, housing costs, food costs, telecommunications cost, everything. It is going to become very apparent very soon things are going to tank. The Starbucks/ Walmart retail economy will not sustain itself. When Walmart is too expensive for the "average" person for food and goods, what % will need to buy from the Dollar Tree ($1.00) for all their food???

[BigmanPigman]

4. It is even worse in San Diego. This is why a minimum wage increase

to $15 by 2020 is unrealistic. Even with that increase many people will still have to work two jobs. As a teacher I didn't get a raise or even a cost of living increase for 5 years while shared health insur costs doubled. This effects retirement for people as well. I guess it is worth it as long as the GOP and the 1% get richer.