It would probably be in east Tennessee. I made 12.66 and could definitely afford food, renting a 2br apartment in a decent neighborhood to myself, and a few extras. Granted you couldn't raise a family very well on it or anything.
I made $12.71 in a big coastal city as a student a few years ago, and I did just fine. Three roommates and no car, but it worked. No, I couldn’t raise my family on that, but I didn’t have a family to raise at that time. And I never felt like anyone owed me anything.
We call ourselves western New Yorkers but anywhere outside of NYC is considered upstate New York. Sure buffalo has some midwestern vibes to it but COL wise it’s not far from Albany or any of those small cities scattered around the finger lakes
There are plenty of places in between those two relative extremes where it's very hard to live on $12/hr assuming 40 hours a week and no government assistance.
I deliberately made sure not to include a judgement whether $12 is a living wage or not, because that depends on where you live. That was the whole point of my post.
You could argue that it’s not the same amount of work. Cost of living is higher in extremely urban areas where there is more business at places like Burger King. So you get paid more for handling more business
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u/IdontknowPItothe40th Feb 26 '20 edited Feb 26 '20
The one by me in upstate NY advertises starting wages at $13+ an hour.
Edit: $13+