The living wage in New Hanover County is $14.26 according to MIT. The minimum wage is $7.25. (Port City Daily/Pexels Karolina Grabowska)
NEW HANOVER COUNTY –– Charlene Maultsby has served in her role as Janitor at New Hanover County Schools since 2015. Their paychecks have also stayed relatively the same
Compared to the poverty line
But if you look at the federal poverty line of $18,310, you can see that the barrier to financial stability is much more dramatic for many families. The actual cost of living in most counties is about 2.5 times the poverty line.
As an example, the US Census Bureau says 13.3% of families in Guilford County live in poverty, with near full employment and higher average wages than many other counties.
But is $15 an hour really a living wage?
Turns out the answer is a bit complicated. A recent Spectrum News report, “Living Wages in North Carolina’s Largest Cities,” highlighted the income disparities required to meet basic living needs in our state based on geography and family composition.
The report references the MIT Living Wage Calculator, which estimates the cost of living in communities across the country based on typical expenses.
Update: 10/31/22 – Living wage update
The living wage has sparked intense debate as national talks on wage growth show the economy has rallied since the recession , but not workers’ wages. . The minimum wage of $7.25 an hour hasn’t increased since 2009, even though the cost of living has risen 18% since then. You’ve probably heard politicians running on a platform to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour; a standard that many consider a living wage for most workers. The government has typically calculated the minimum wage based on the federal poverty line, which is an income threshold that determines whether a person or family earns enough to meet basic needs like food and shelter. The federal poverty line is the same in all 48 contiguous states.
Living Wage is more nuanced than that. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) developed this alternative model to calculate income based on basic needs costs along with other essential costs such as child care, insurance, transportation, Clothing and other necessities to charge. MIT’s living wage model also takes into account the different cost of living in different parts of the country. Living in New York City is much more expensive than in Charlotte, so MIT calculates the living wage in each city based on the local cost of goods. In addition, the living wage increases with the size of the family.