Comment on Why the real poverty line is $140,000, this strategist argues

• finitebanjo@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

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  • lemmyseikai@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Unless I am mistaken poverty lines are usually for families not individuals.

    I think 140k median us wide for a family seems reasonable. Sure it’s pretty high for some Low Cost of Living areas, but many of those areas lack local social services, public transit, etc.

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    • finitebanjo@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Would that not then be letting the high cost outliers dictate the number for the vast majority?

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      • lemmyseikai@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Sure. But the issue is the sample size is naturally large to the Central Limit Theorem applies.

        As such, the population of the US as a whole is likely normally distributed. This the outliers are normalized and this should not skew anything.

        This, 140k/4 is about 35k a person. Since a household of 4 assume 2 kids and kids consume a median of 30k a year not including housing you are limiting each adult to about 40k a year pre tax. Tax is going to consume about 50k so thats 30k for 2 adults for the year. Housing costs at 1800 a month for a 2 bedroom eat up about another 20k.

        This leaves 10k for food, clothes, etc.

        Assuming I didn’t jack up my math (bad assumption even if I teach finance as a living), there is simply not enough money to really enjoy life. At 80k you are living on a 60k deficit, which means you rely heavily on the good grace of others to function.

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