$8.72 is a living wage in Austin....at least this institute says so (Round Rock: apartments, health insurance)

[inthecut]

How many of you can survive as a single person on $8.72/hour in Austin?
Where would you live? What would you eat? ramen? Mac and cheese?

Can someone single in Austin live on 8.72/hour?



Survey:

http://www.livingwage.geog.psu.edu/places/4845305000

[centralaustinite]

People do it everyday!

I'm not saying that it easy but people get by. You live central (and tons of poor people live central) and walk or ride the bus everywhere. You have a roommate, maybe more than one. You buy groceries at Fiesta and maybe grow a few tomatoes or basil in a pot. You supplement your wages by babysitting, manual labor, or barter. You shop for clothes at Goodwill or Target or Walmart. You have a library card. You might show up at a food pantry.

You may not believe that it is done but I live south central and work east central and I see folks doing it everyday. (And I am grateful, very grateful not to be among them).

(And it is stressful, and raises your blood pressure and is bad for your heart and it makes it hard to eat well, and chronic health problems go untreated, and you are frequently grumpy).

[jobert]

There's no excuse for eating poorly. You can get a 1/2 lb. of strawberries for $1 at Newflower Market. That's a meal.

[Trainwreck20]

$8.72 is just about $18k per year, which means you aren't paying much (if anything) in taxes. That is $1,500/month. You wont be living high on the hog, of course, but if you ditch gas, car costs, and auto insurance it is pretty doable. If you have a car, assume a cheap used one ($4,000 spread out to an ongoing $300/month estimate), low-end insurance coverage ($75/month), and gas ($50-75/month). The car alone can run you the equivalent of $400-$500 a month. Low end but passable apartments are probably around $500/month. Bills will run you $150 (elec/phone). Leaves enough for food it you actually buy it and cook ($3/meal *93 meals/month = $280 - $320).

Ride the bus and you are pretty much good to go. Get a roommate, and you are sitting much better still. The problem is what people consider necessities....new mobile phones, cable TV, new(er) car, going out to eat/fast food, etc. The truth is, the people that are capable of earning more than that are probably the best able to budget themselves if they are forced to lower wages. People that are less qualified to earn more are typically those that don't/won't/can't budget and plan ahead for a time when they will make more money.

[orbius]

You can squeak by, better not get sick though you cant afford it not in the budget.

[Latsabb]

I survived just fine with 11 an hour, and I had a wife and 6 month old child. And my wife did not work. As such, I would assume that a single could manage it with 2.50ish less an hour. Now, true, I got health insurance through my company, but that is besides the point. Below is my budget from back then:

Rent: $620/month (1 bedroom apartment in Round Rock/North Austin. Nice place overall)
Car Insurance: $75/month (and this was including collision. You can get cheaper)
Food: $450/month (That is 15 a day. 2/breakfast, 5/lunch, 8/dinner)
Daipers/wipes: $70/month
Baby food: $40/month (Bought fresh fruits and veggies, and processed my own)
TV/Internet/Phone: $50/month (50 for the internet and phone. TV was free. :P)
Gas: $100/month (Assumed $2/gallon, so 12.5gallons a week.)
Electricity: $75/month (It could have been a bit cheaper if my wife and child did not need AC constantly)
Drinks: $30/month (Completely un-needed, but that is 4 Mountain Dew cans a day)
Cellphones: $80/month (Two plans at $40 a month. You can get cheaper.)
Soaps: $30/month (Shampoo and soaps. I am sure you can slide by with cheaper)
Toilet paper: $10/month
Clothes: $35/month (based on 400 a year. Not going to get you anything fancy, but still)
Shoes: $10/month (based on 120 a year. WAY more than needed. That is 4 pairs of shoes at the outlet mall)
Car repairs: $50/month (based on 600 a year. Hard to calculate, but that is about right)
Makeup: $10/month (based on 120 a year. Not needed... Unless you ask the wife :P)
Hygiene items: $20/month (feminine needs, condoms, deodorant, etc)
Snacks: $30/month (Only a dollar a day, so it wont get you much, but that is 4 granola bars a day...)

Grand total a month? $1785. Total made/month? Well, 11 dollars an hour, paying 0 in actual tax, and 7.8ish% for SS and the other small gouges gives you... $1785 a month. :P So yes, it is an even break, but many things on that list could be trimmed, and I made a LOT of dinners that cost less than 8 bucks. A pound of boneless chicken breast, a can of Mushroom soup, and some pasta... Around 2 dollars.

So yes, it is VERY possible. It wont bank you any money, but you can squeeze by.

[inthecut]

Comment was deleted, so perhaps rephrasing this will do. I thought that the majority of residents in the Austin metro, and even more so the city proper, are struggling to make ends meet, and that a far larger share than you would think are in service and entertainment, including retail jobs, that pay little enough to be in the range we are itemizing here.

Ancillary comment was that if this situation was long term, dating, let alone raising a family, would be out of the question.

That being said, what percentage of workers in our metro would you say are IN this situation, and how chronic is it...in other words, is it temporary, or do you see people being stuck in it for a very long time?

Another question....is Austin a polarized work environment, in which on one hand you have entrepreneurial and tech leading the way, and on the other a sea of low-paying retail and hospitality jobs?

As a final aside, I think all our US metros, as they offshore more and more, even tech, are becoming more retail and low-pay orientated........still amazed when I see a sea
of retail in other metros, wondering where they get all the people to work for substandard wages....

[inthecut]

Originally Posted by Latsabb

I survived just fine with 11 an hour, and I had a wife and 6 month old child. And my wife did not work. As such, I would assume that a single could manage it with 2.50ish less an hour. Now, true, I got health insurance through my company, but that is besides the point. Below is my budget from back then:

Rent: $620/month (1 bedroom apartment in Round Rock/North Austin. Nice place overall)
Car Insurance: $75/month (and this was including collision. You can get cheaper)
Food: $450/month (That is 15 a day. 2/breakfast, 5/lunch, 8/dinner)
Daipers/wipes: $70/month
Baby food: $40/month (Bought fresh fruits and veggies, and processed my own)
TV/Internet/Phone: $50/month (50 for the internet and phone. TV was free. :P)
Gas: $100/month (Assumed $2/gallon, so 12.5gallons a week.)
Electricity: $75/month (It could have been a bit cheaper if my wife and child did not need AC constantly)
Drinks: $30/month (Completely un-needed, but that is 4 Mountain Dew cans a day)
Cellphones: $80/month (Two plans at $40 a month. You can get cheaper.)
Soaps: $30/month (Shampoo and soaps. I am sure you can slide by with cheaper)
Toilet paper: $10/month
Clothes: $35/month (based on 400 a year. Not going to get you anything fancy, but still)
Shoes: $10/month (based on 120 a year. WAY more than needed. That is 4 pairs of shoes at the outlet mall)
Car repairs: $50/month (based on 600 a year. Hard to calculate, but that is about right)
Makeup: $10/month (based on 120 a year. Not needed... Unless you ask the wife :P)
Hygiene items: $20/month (feminine needs, condoms, deodorant, etc)
Snacks: $30/month (Only a dollar a day, so it wont get you much, but that is 4 granola bars a day...)

Grand total a month? $1785. Total made/month? Well, 11 dollars an hour, paying 0 in actual tax, and 7.8ish% for SS and the other small gouges gives you... $1785 a month. :P So yes, it is an even break, but many things on that list could be trimmed, and I made a LOT of dinners that cost less than 8 bucks. A pound of boneless chicken breast, a can of Mushroom soup, and some pasta... Around 2 dollars.

So yes, it is VERY possible. It wont bank you any money, but you can squeeze by.

Wow, medical insurance beside the point? I don't think so, especially with a family and small children.....just one large medical setback could cause you to be paying bills to collection agencies for years, or cause you and your family to defer treatment that will create health problems, that you will pay for later, per suffering and the costs to rectify the same, if they can be......

And that is the reason that companies rarely pay out medical benefits, typically about 30% of a yearly salary, anymore. It's too "expensive" for them as well.

Per medical issues as a society, we can't escape them collectively anyway. It's either pay me now or pay me later. Chronic situations will be paid for anyway sooner or later, unless someone just drops dead, and even then you have funeral costs......

I think we really have to look carefully at this new medical bill being debated....hopefully there's an answer in there somewhere....can't just dump unpayable and undealable situations on individuals and society at large, like throwing out the window, hoping it disappears...

[Latsabb]

Originally Posted by inthecut

Wow, medical insurance beside the point? I don't think so, especially with a family and small children.....just one large medical setback could cause you to be paying bills to collection agencies for years, or cause you and your family to defer treatment that will create health problems, that you will pay for later, per suffering and the costs to rectify the same, if they can be......

And that is the reason that companies rarely pay out medical benefits, typically about 30% of a yearly salary, anymore. It's too "expensive" for them as well.

Per medical issues as a society, we can't escape them collectively anyway. It's either pay me now or pay me later. Chronic situations will be paid for anyway sooner or later, unless someone just drops dead, and even then you have funeral costs......

I think we really have to look carefully at this new medical bill being debated....hopefully there's an answer in there somewhere....can't just dump unpayable and undealable situations on individuals and society at large, like throwing out the window, hoping it disappears...

Actually, a good chunk of companies offer medical insurance. Now, yes, if you are scraping the barrel, you may not get any sort of coverage, but every time I am job hunting, I see a LOT of places offering medical and dental. Now, true, it sometimes means eating it in the paycheck department, but if that institute claims that you can make it with 8.72 an hour, and you have medical included, then you are set. It is very possible. If medical is not included, then you will need to trim your budget by an extra 150-200 a month, which is easy enough, trust me. As others have stated, you can get a room mate. You can also skimp on the food budget a bit until something better comes along, or until you get a raise.

If you spend a dollar a day on drinks, then you can go with water, and save 30 a month. Trim 5 dollars a day from your food budget? That is 150 a month. Cut down on the heating/AC in the house? More than likely a good 10 a month. And so on, and so on. The budget I listed was by no means a "barely making it, eating nothing but ramen" budget. We ate well, still had snacks, still lived in a nice apartment (we could have gotten one for 500 a month easily) still drove a car that only got 18 miles to the gallon, still had some candy and treats, and still had the AC on 24 hours a day, with it set to 75 degrees.

[twange]

Originally Posted by inthecut

Wow, medical insurance beside the point? I don't think so, especially with a family and small children.....just one large medical setback could cause you to be paying bills to collection agencies for years, or cause you and your family to defer treatment that will create health problems, that you will pay for later, per suffering and the costs to rectify the same, if they can be...

Yeah, with all due respect Latsabb, I was going to say the same thing. Healthcare besides the point? I tend to think that having access to quality healthcare might be the most important thing for anyone, next to food and shelter. Without your health, there's no real need for much else. A higher level of public health is better for all of us and IMHO, one of the most distinguishing characteristics of an advanced society.