Of course, a decent house in that area runs $80-100k, whereas the same house in the area I live outside of Boston would cost $400k, and you couldn't buy a property with an equivalent amount of land attached at any price in the Bay area.
My son is making about $30K a year ($2000 a month) and I helped him do his budget so I know what his expenses are:
Rent - $600
Car note - $300
Car Insurance - $250
Utilities - $350
That leaves him about $500 a month for "everything else".
Yes that puts him on the edge and thanks to the ACA he's still covered under our insurance until he turns 26 and if he needs a car repair we help him.
Two conclusions:
I think we should have universal health care as a nation.
If we had better mass transit, people wouldn't need cars and it would make finding a job easier.
According to the gross up calculator at psycheckcity.com he would need to make around $16.50/hour or $34000 a year to have enough cushion for things that happen. Strangely enough, that was also the salary I needed 20 years ago before I could make it on my own without asking my parents for help. I made that my first year out of college as a computer operator.
This is in metro Atlanta not podunk nowhere USA.
Show me one person in this country with two kids who makes $14/hr and doesn't feel like they're struggling. College is easy, I survived on <$9/hr in college but you don't see me pretending that what is supportive of a college lifestyle and what is supportive of normal people with normal lives are the same thing.
>Had I lived more rural in an area where entry level homes are <200k and not 600k+, that would of gone much farther.
It would've gone a bit further but certainly not 'much.'
>That being said, as an avid hiker, I spend a significant chunk of my time in places best labeled as "Nowhere, really".
Somehow I think even you realize that using 'I hike' as a proxy for 'I have familiarity with rural areas' is pretty lame.