30 guides about the living wage in the United States, one question each. What the number means, where it comes from, how it moves with your county and your household, and what people do when their pay falls under it.
Start with the definition if you arrived from a headline, because a living wage, the federal minimum wage and the poverty guideline are three different numbers built for three different jobs. Start with the state and city guides if you already know the definition and want your own figure.
Every wage, cost and poverty figure here is sourced to HHS, the Department of Labor, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Census Bureau or MIT, with the year attached. This explains published data and is not financial advice.Living Wage
Living Wage
Three official numbers, and none of them measure the same thing
Ask the federal government what an American needs to earn and you get several answers that contradict each other. Each one exists for a different purpose, and mixing them up produces most of the arguments you have read about wages.
Congress sets the federal minimum wage. It has stood at $7.25 an hour since 24 July 2009, which the Department of Labor still lists as the effective date. Work 2,080 hours at that rate and you gross $15,080 in a year.
The Department of Health and Human Services publishes the poverty guidelines every January so that programs know who qualifies for help. For 2026 a single person in the 48 contiguous states sits at $15,960, and a household of four at $33,000. Alaska and Hawaii get separate, higher figures.
MIT built the Living Wage Calculator to answer a third question: what does one full-time worker need to earn so a household covers its basic costs in the county where it lives, without help. Put the three side by side and the legal floor lands below the poverty threshold most people assume it clears.
| Household size | 2026 poverty guideline | Hourly at 2,080 hours | Full-time federal minimum | Shortfall |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 person | $15,960 | $7.67 | $15,080 | $880 |
| 2 people | $21,640 | $10.40 | $15,080 | $6,560 |
| 3 people | $27,320 | $13.13 | $15,080 | $12,240 |
| 4 people | $33,000 | $15.87 | $15,080 | $17,920 |
Sources: HHS 2026 poverty guidelines for the 48 contiguous states and DC, published in the Federal Register in January 2026. Federal minimum wage from the U.S. Department of Labor. The hourly and shortfall columns are arithmetic on those two published figures at 2,080 hours a year, which assumes 40 hours a week with no unpaid weeks. HHS publishes annual dollars rather than hourly rates.
One person working full time at the federal minimum earns $880 less in a year than the 2026 poverty guideline for a household of one. The gap widens with every additional person in the home. Living Wage vs. Poverty Line: Two Numbers, One Big Gap takes that comparison further.
There is no national living wage, and MIT will not publish one
People search for the living wage in America as though a single figure exists. MIT declines to produce one. Its FAQ says the estimates are meant to be used at a “highly localized level,” so the calculator reports figures by county, metro area and state, and stops there.
That refusal carries the argument. Rent, childcare and health insurance vary more between two counties in the same state than most national averages can absorb, so a country-wide living wage would describe nowhere. The poverty guideline takes the opposite approach and applies one number from Maine to Arizona, which is why a family can sit above the poverty line and still not cover rent.
Minimum wage law splits the difference and leaves the decision to states. As of the Department of Labor’s July 2026 table, 30 states plus the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands set a floor above $7.25. Thirteen states match the federal rate. Five have no state minimum wage law at all, and two set one below the federal figure, where federal law still governs covered employers.
| Where a state sits | How many | Which ones |
|---|---|---|
| Above $7.25 | 30 states | Plus DC, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Washington leads the states at $17.13; DC is higher still at $18.40. |
| At $7.25 | 13 states | Iowa, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina, North Dakota, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin. |
| No state law | 5 states | Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee. Federal law covers most employers there. |
| Below $7.25 | 2 states | Georgia and Wyoming, where the federal rate still applies to employers covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act. |
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Consolidated State Minimum Wage Table, rates effective 1 July 2026. The federal minimum cash wage for tipped employees remains $2.13 an hour, with a maximum tip credit of $5.12, which the employer must top up to $7.25 if tips fall short.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics counted 843,000 workers paid at or below the federal minimum in 2024, about 1.0 percent of the 80.3 million American workers paid by the hour. State floors and market rates have moved most jobs above $7.25 without Congress touching the number for 17 years. The federal minimum now matters less as a paycheck and more as the benchmark everything else gets measured against.
What goes into the basket, and which guide covers it
A living wage figure is a budget with a wage attached. MIT prices eight categories of spending for a household in one county, adds the income and payroll tax owed on that total, and divides the result into an hourly rate. Change any line and the wage changes with it, which is why childcare turns two similar households into very different numbers.
| Cost category | What moves it | The guide that covers it |
|---|---|---|
| Housing | The single largest line for most households, and the one that varies most between counties. | Housing Costs and the Living Wage: Why Rent Changes Everything |
| Childcare | Zero for some households and the largest line for others. It rewrites the arithmetic the moment a child arrives. | Childcare Costs and the Living Wage: The Full Story |
| Health care | Premiums, out-of-pocket costs and whether an employer contributes. | Healthcare Costs and the Living Wage: A Closer Look |
| Food | Priced for meals cooked at home. Eating out is not in the basket. | What Does a Living Wage Budget Actually Look Like? |
| Transportation | Getting to work and back, which costs more where public transport thins out. | Living Wage in Rural America: The Numbers Are Different |
| Internet and mobile | Added as a basic need rather than a discretionary bill. | How the Living Wage Has Changed Over the Last 10 Years |
| Civic engagement | Modest spending on entertainment, reading and participation in community life. | Living Wage vs. a Comfortable Income: Where Is the Real Line? |
| Other necessities | Clothing, household supplies, personal care. | Living Wage vs. the 50/30/20 Budget Rule: Do They Actually Line Up? |
| Income and payroll taxes | Added on top of the eight spending categories, because a wage has to cover the tax on itself. | Am I Earning a Living Wage? A Personal Self-Assessment |
Source: MIT Living Wage Calculator methodology, 2026 edition, updated 15 February 2026 using source data adjusted to December 2025 dollars.
Read the exclusions before you compare the number to your own life. MIT leaves out restaurant meals, holidays and unpaid time off, and it leaves out savings, retirement and long-term investment. A living wage covers this month. It does not build anything.
That exclusion list explains why a household can hit the living wage for its county and still feel stretched. The figure was designed as a floor for basic needs, and a budget with no savings line has no room for a broken transmission. What Happens When You Earn Below the Living Wage? follows what happens underneath it.
How this collection works
Thirty guides sit above, each answering one question. The collection stays on the living wage itself: what the number means, where it comes from, how it shifts with your county and your household, and what people do when their pay falls under it.
Pay mechanics live next door instead. Gross against net, hourly against annual, what counts as a good salary, how to read an offer: those belong to the Salary collection, and the two link across rather than repeating each other.
Every figure here comes from HHS, the Department of Labor, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Census Bureau or MIT, named on the page with its year attached. Wage and poverty figures change every January, so a number without a year on it is worth distrusting wherever you find it.
None of these guides tell you what to do with your own money. They describe published data and the arithmetic behind it. Decisions about a job offer, a move or a household budget depend on facts about you that no article can see.
Which guide do you need?
Six groups, sorted by the reason you opened this page.
You want the definition and the comparisons
Start here if you arrived from a headline. The three-way confusion between a living wage, a minimum wage and the poverty line accounts for most of the disagreement in public debate about pay.
- What Is a Living Wage? A Plain U.S. Guide
- Living Wage vs. Minimum Wage: 7 Big Misconceptions
- Living Wage vs. Poverty Line: Two Numbers, One Big Gap
- Living Wage vs. a Comfortable Income: Where Is the Real Line?
The comfortable-income guide draws the line most people actually care about. A living wage stops at basic needs, so the distance between covering your costs and feeling secure is a separate question with a separate answer.
Where you live changes the number
Geography does more work here than any other variable. A wage that supports a household in one county leaves the same household short two hours down the road.
- Living Wage by State: A 50-State Overview of What You Need to Earn
- Living Wage by City: What You Actually Need to Earn
- Living Wage in Rural America: The Numbers Are Different
- How the Living Wage Has Changed Over the Last 10 Years
- Living Wage Around the World: How the US Compares
Rural readers should start with the rural guide rather than the state overview. Cheaper housing gets partly eaten by transport costs and by longer distances to health care, and a state average hides both.
What the money actually goes on
The line-by-line view. Housing, childcare and health care decide the figure, and the other categories move it at the margins.
- What Does a Living Wage Budget Actually Look Like?
- Housing Costs and the Living Wage: Why Rent Changes Everything
- Childcare Costs and the Living Wage: The Full Story
- Healthcare Costs and the Living Wage: A Closer Look
- Living Wage vs. the 50/30/20 Budget Rule: Do They Actually Line Up?
Try the budget rule guide if you have ever applied 50/30/20 and watched it collapse. The rule assumes housing fits inside half your income alongside everything else you need, which stops being true above a certain rent.
Your household shape decides your number
Twelve household types produce twelve different figures. Adding a child moves the number more than most people expect, and a second earner moves it less.
- How a Living Wage Changes When You Have Kids
- Living Wage for Single Parents: What the Numbers Really Show
- Two-Income Households and the Living Wage: When Two Jobs Aren’t Enough
- Is Your First Job Offer Actually Enough to Live On?
- Living Wage for Seniors: Is Your Retirement Income Actually Enough?
- The Living Wage and Immigration: What New Americans Need to Earn
The two-income guide answers the question that puzzles people most. Two earners split the childcare bill and the rent, then pay twice the transport and lose part of the gain to tax, so two jobs rarely halve the pressure.
Your kind of work
Contract status changes the arithmetic before geography gets a say. A freelancer covers the employer half of payroll tax and buys their own health insurance, both of which sit inside the living wage calculation for an employee.
- Living Wage & the Gig Economy: What Freelancers and Platform Workers Really Need to Earn
- Minimum Wage Jobs That Pay a Living Wage: Do They Exist?
- Living Wage for Essential Workers: A Pandemic-Era Reality Check
- Living Wage Benchmarks: A Guide for Employers and HR Teams
Employers get their own guide because the question runs backwards for them. Setting a pay floor across several locations means picking which county you benchmark to, and a national figure will not do it.
Working out your own number, and what to do with it
The practical end. Run your county, compare it to your pay, then decide what the answer changes.
- Am I Earning a Living Wage? A Personal Self-Assessment
- How to Use the MIT Living Wage Calculator: Tips for Getting the Most From It
- How to Use Living Wage Data to Negotiate Your Salary
- What Happens When You Earn Below the Living Wage?
- Living Wage and Mental Health: The Financial Stress Connection
- Living Wage Policy in the US: What Has Actually Worked?
The negotiation guide is the one with a use tomorrow morning. County-level cost data carries weight in a pay conversation that a personal budget does not, because your manager can check it.
Questions readers ask first
What is the living wage in the United States?
No single national figure exists. MIT publishes living wage estimates by county, metro area and state, and says the data is meant for use at a highly localized level. Housing, childcare and health costs vary too much between counties for one national number to describe any real household.
What is the difference between a living wage and the minimum wage?
Congress sets the minimum wage as a legal floor, currently $7.25 an hour since July 2009. A living wage is an estimate of what covering basic costs requires in one place, calculated from local prices. One is law, the other is arithmetic, and neither obliges an employer to pay the other.
Is the federal minimum wage above the poverty line?
No. Full-time work at $7.25 for 2,080 hours grosses $15,080 a year. The 2026 HHS poverty guideline for a single person in the 48 contiguous states is $15,960, so a full-time minimum wage worker earns $880 below it before any dependants are counted.
How many Americans earn the federal minimum wage?
Around 843,000 in 2024, roughly 1.0 percent of the 80.3 million workers paid hourly, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. State minimums and market rates have lifted most jobs above $7.25 while the federal rate has stayed unchanged for 17 years.
Does a living wage include savings?
No. MIT states that its calculation leaves out savings, retirement and other long-term investments, along with restaurant meals and unpaid holidays. The figure covers a household’s basic monthly needs, which is why hitting it still leaves nothing set aside for an emergency.
Where these figures come from
Six sources carry every number on this page. Each one publishes a new edition annually, so check the year before you reuse a figure.
MIT Living Wage Calculator, 2026 edition, updated 15 February 2026. Run your own county rather than reading a national average. Open the MIT calculator
U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, which lists $7.25 as effective 24 July 2009. See the DOL page
DOL Consolidated State Minimum Wage Table, rates effective 1 July 2026, the source for the 30, 13, 5 and 2 state counts above. See the state table
HHS 2026 poverty guidelines, published in the Federal Register in January 2026, with separate figures for Alaska and Hawaii. See the HHS guidelines
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Characteristics of Minimum Wage Workers, 2024, for the 843,000 figure and the 1.0 percent share. Read the BLS report
U.S. Census Bureau, which publishes both the official measure and the Supplemental Poverty Measure. The SPM counts benefits and taxes and adjusts for local housing costs, and it ran 12.9 percent in 2024 against the official 10.6 percent. Read about the SPM
waldev.com builds free calculators from published formulas, indexed under Finance Tools, with the questions around each tool answered separately instead of buried inside it. No living wage calculator sits on this site, because MIT already maintains the county-level dataset and rebuilding it from a worse source would help nobody.
A note on scope: these guides explain published wage, cost and poverty data for general information. They are not financial advice, they cannot see your household, and nothing here should decide a job offer, a move or a budget on its own. Every figure carries the year it applies to, because HHS, the DOL and MIT all revise theirs in the first quarter of each year.