reply on: The Income a Family Needs to Live Comfortably in Every U.S. State \ stacker news ~econ

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122 sats \ 6 replies \ @0xbitcoiner OP 23 May \ parent \ on: The Income a Family Needs to Live Comfortably in Every U.S. State econ

Is this source more in line with reality? This map does not include discretionary spending or savings/investments (50%).

This paper presents the methodology and data sources used in the 2024 update of the Economic Policy Institute’s Family Budget Calculator. EPI’s Family Budget Calculator measures the monthly income a family needs in order to attain a modest yet adequate standard of living. The budgets estimate community-specific costs for 10 family types (one or two adults with zero to four children). Compared with the federal poverty line and the Supplemental Poverty Measure, EPI’s family budgets provide a more accurate and complete measure of economic security in America.

The budget calculator draws upon the most recent reliable data, which in many instances is data for 2023. If 2023 data were unavailable, we used data from the latest available year inflated to 2023 dollars with the budget-item-appropriate inflator. The calculator now includes data for all 3,143 U.S. counties and county equivalents and for all 613 HUD FMR metropolitan areas. Other specific changes to the methodology of individual components of the family budget calculator are noted within the description of each component.

Economic Policy Institute https://www.epi.org/publication/family-budget-calculator-documentation/

Interactive map

https://m.stacker.news/32283

71 sats \ 0 replies \ @kepford 23 May

I mean it seems to be more aligned with my experience.

98 sats \ 4 replies \ @Undisciplined 23 May

Yeah, those numbers match my intuition much better.

There are a lot of different things going on:

One of which is that people don't have homothetic preferences, meaning we don't need as large a share of discretionary spending as our budgets increase.

Another is that many people have benefits through their jobs that provide savings and supplement other costs, so the first graph is doing some double counting.

119 sats \ 2 replies \ @kepford 23 May

Yeah great points. This is why I say do your own research using your existing expenses and preferences. I think these tools are good for narrowing it down but DO NOT take them as fact. Much better to compare county A in state A vs county B in state B. Many things can be broken down at the state level but don't overlook the local differences. And this isn't only money. Governments at all levels vary as well.

71 sats \ 1 reply \ @0xbitcoiner OP 23 May

Since the data in the first graph represents average values for the entire state, it is important to read the data with caution. We can sometimes be misled. What would be the average allocation for a 4-person American family? 80/10/10?

82 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined 23 May

That’s probably fine for people right on the edge of living comfortably.

81 sats \ 0 replies \ @0xbitcoiner OP 23 May

What seems clear to me is that the concept of comfortable is very subjective. I also live well without 30% discretionary spending. It is possible to live well without most of that part of the budget, or to allocate more to savings.