How much do you need to earn to live in California? See living wage for singles, families
How much do you need to earn to live in California?
To make a so-called “living wage” in the Golden State, you’ll need to bring home substantially more than minimum wage, according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s living wage calculator.
At $16.50, California’s minimum wage is nearly $9 higher than the federal minimum wage of $7.25.
However, a single adult with no children would need to earn almost double that amount — $27. 50 an hour —to afford basic necessities in California, according to the MIT living wage calculator.
Meanwhile, a single parent with three kids would need to earn an hourly wage of $82.16.
MIT defines the living wage as “the hourly rate that an individual in a household must earn to support themselves and/or their family, working full-time, or 2,080 hours per year.”
In California, that means earning enough to afford food, housing, transportation and more.
Here’s how the numbers break down:
What is considered a living wage in California?
Here’s how much you need to earn per hour to earn a living wage in California, according to the MIT living wage calculator:
- Single adult with no children: $27.32
- Single adult with one child: $47.96
- Single adult with two children: $61.58
- Single adult with three children: $82.16
- Two working adults with no children: $36.35
- Two working adults with one child: $44.11
- Two working adults with two children: $49.10
- Two working adults with three children: $54.51
Which expenses make living in California a challenge?
Nationwide, the cost of all items increased by 2.9% over the past 12 months as of Jan. 15, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Food costs increased 2.5% over the same period, while energy services rose 3.3%.
Housing costs increased 4.6% across the nation, the federal agency reports,
“Prices are much higher today than just a few years ago, breeding stress and a sense of inequity around buying power, as well as adjustments in buying habits,” Sarah Bohm, senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California, wrote in October.
The median rent price in California was $2,761 as of Feb. 1, popular housing site Zillow reported.
Meanwhile, the statewide median sales price for a single-family home was $861,020 in December, according to the California Association of Realtors.
What’s the living wage in my California county?
How does MIT calculate living wages in the US?
MIT developed the living wage calculator in 2003 to comprehensively estimate the employment earnings that a full-time worker requires to cover or support the costs of their family’s basic needs where they live.
The calculator features geographically-specific costs for food, child care, health care, housing, transportation and other basic needs as well as taxes at the county, metropolitan area and state levels for 12 different family types.
MIT said it looked at living wage estimates for a total of 3,143 counties to “account for the geographic variation in costs” across the United States, as well as 384 metropolitan statistical areas and 50 states plus Washington, D.C.
Data came from sources included the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Department of Agriculture and Department of Housing and Urban Development.
MIT said the living wage calculator was last updated on Feb. 14, 2024.
This story was originally published February 4, 2025 at 10:47 AM.