In most large U.S. cities, the cost of maintaining a modest standard of
living, where families don't struggle to put food on the table or pay the rent,
requires income that's far beyond the federal poverty line (FPL), according to
a new study from the liberal Economic Policy Institute. Take the FPL for a
family of four, which was $23,850 last year. (Even the U.S. median household
income of $53,046 would fall short in every location, EPI found.) The poverty
level is about half of what a family of four would need to get by in the
country's least expensive metropolitan area -- Morristown, Tennessee—where a
two-parent, two-child family would require gross income of $49,114 simply to
cover rent, taxes, food, transportation, child care and other basics. Needless to say, the FPL doesn’t come close
to what New Yorkers would need--where a family of four needs $98,722 to afford
their basic needs. The median household income in the Big Apple stands at only
$58,003.
Source: CBS News, 8/26/15, Poverty
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