Seems like we're talking about different things. I was talking about the net gain/loss from getting a job, whereas you're talking about your overall living situation.
See my reply to jolux's comment. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26996114
The original post said the average cost for a studio was $900. You claim that the 20th percentile cost is $1000.
That doesn't make any sense whatsoever, so you go figure out what the real numbers are and then we can talk.
What methodology would you use to find this data if Appartments.com isn't reliable?
But most apartments don't get rented through apartments.com, and the ones that don't are skewed towards the lower end of the market.
The 4-flat where the owner is renting out the other 3 places and living in one of them doesn't show up on apartments.com. I don't know where you find good comprehensive data, you tell me. But if you are looking at bad data because you can't find good data, you are the drunk looking for his keys underneath the street light not because he lost his keys there but because the light is good.
For starters, you don't want to have to work every single day. If you work 5 days out of every 7, you only have $41.43 to spend per day.
The average cost of a studio apartment is over $900 a month. That's $30 per day. Even if you get roommates, that's going to cost you at least $15 per day.
That leaves you $26 a day to spend on food, clothing, hygiene, Internet access, electricity, transportation, health care (since most minimum wage jobs don't include it), and all of the other expenses of life. And then pray you don't get sick -- even with health insurance you're now losing income.
It adds up fast. There is basically nowhere in the US that this is a living wage. At best you can barely scrape by with no margin for error -- and certainly no money to spend on training for a better job.