People often say that cost of living is low in Atlanta. And they are right, relative to many other metros, as our snapshot this month showed (How Expensive Is It to Live in Metro Atlanta?). But, when considering minimum wage and the needs of various family types, can working adults earn the minimum income needed for their family to be self-sufficient?
Living Wage Model
In metro Atlanta, a single parent with two children needs to make $26.55 an hour for the family to have a living wage. This living wage is nearly 4 times higher than the actual minimum wage in metro Atlanta: $7.25 an hour. Research from Massachusetts Institute of Technology determines the living wage for 12 different family compositions, specific to various counties and metropolitan areas.
Table 1 shows the living wage needed for 12 different family compositions in metro Atlanta. Then, using the minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, it shows how much the minimum wage would need to increase to meet the living wage income of the family.
Compared to eight select metros, Atlanta has some of the largest gaps between minimum wage and living wage, although it does fare slightly better than San Francisco. Boston has the relatively smallest disparities between minimum/living wages-but the disparity is still significant; minimum wage does not meet the living wage for any family composition.
Across all of the metros, the family composed of two working adults has the best shot at meeting their living wage needs. Still, in all but one metro (Washington, D.C.), a two-working-adult family making minimum wage cannot generate enough income to meet their living wage requirements. Actually, the only family type that would be able to attain a living wage by earning minimum wage would be a two-working-adult family (with no children) living in Washington, D.C. If this doesn’t describe your family, and odds are it doesn’t, then you are not able to meet your living wage needs based on a minimum-wage income.
In every metro, a family having one working adult and three children has the greatest disparity between minimum wage and living wage compared to other family compositions. In Atlanta, for this family type, the minimum wage would only cover 22% of the living wage expenses- ranking 4th compared to other metros for the same family composition.
Table 1. Living wages for 12 different family types in Metro Atlanta ($7.25 minimum wage)
| Family composition | Living wage | % increase in minimum wage needed |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Adult | $11.23 | 55% |
| 1 Adult, 1 child | $22.26 | 207% |
| 1 Adult, 2 children | $26.55 | 266% |
| 1 Adult, 3 children | $33.12 | 357% |
| 2 Adults (one working) | $17.90 | 147% |
| 2 Adults (one working), 1 child | $21.51 | 197% |
| 2 Adults (one working), 2 children | $23.95 | 230% |
| 2 Adults (one working), 3 children | $27.01 | 273% |
| 2 Adults | $8.74 | 21% |
| 2 Adults, 1 child | $12.32 | 70% |
| 2 Adults, 2 children | $14.55 | 101% |
| 2 Adults, 3 children | $17.10 | 136% |
Let’s look at how the single parent/two children family fares in other comparable metros (Table 2). Out of these eight metros, Atlanta ranks 7th (2nd to last) for meeting the living wage needs of a single parent/two children family. On average across the metros, the minimum wage would need to increase 257% to attain the living wage for this type of family. Looking at Atlanta in particular, there would need to be a 266% increase.
Table 2. Living wages for a family with 1 working adult and two children, by metro, and the percentage that minimum wage would need to increase for the family to earn a living wage
Table 3. Living wages for a family with 2 working adults and one child, by metro, and the percentage that minimum wage would need to increase for the family to earn a living wage
What about a family with two working adults and one child (Table 3)? In Atlanta, a living wage for a family with this composition is $12.32 an hour. Minimum wage would need to increase by 70% to meet this type of family’s needs. Atlanta again ranks 7th for the percent increase in minimum wage needed for this type of family to earn a living wage.
To learn more about living wages and access the source data analyzed here, check out MIT’s Living Wage Calculator.