PA couples with children must earn this much to cover necessities in 2024, analysis says
Life in the U.S. has grown more expensive in the past few years, and supporting a family is becoming an increasing challenge.
So, how much does your household need to make to support your family? That question served as the center of a recent analysis from financial company SmartAsset, which used the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Living Wage Calculator to assess the basic costs of living required to support various types of families in each U.S. state.
SmartAsset’s report examines the minimum costs needed to support 12 different family structures, ranging from a single adult with no children up to a family with two working parents supporting three children. The analysis used cost data from MIT’s Living Wage Calculator to determine the required incomes family types in each state need to fund necessities, including housing, food, medical care and child care services.
Here’s what you need to know about the report’s findings for Pennsylvania and the rest of the U.S.
How much do families need to make in Pennsylvania?
According to SmartAsset’s study, the following minimum incomes are required to adequately support varying Pennsylvania family structures as of February 2024:
- One adult with no children: $45,661
- One adult with one child: $81,898
- One adult with two children: $104,185
- One adult with three children: $135,373
- Two adults (one working) with no children: $63,788
- Two adults (one working) with one child: $77,242
- Two adults (one working) with two children: $87,417
- Two adults (one working) with three children: $92,077
- Two adults (two working) with no children: $63,788
- Two adults (two working) with one child: $91,647
- Two adults (two working) with two children: $115,218
- Two adults (two working) with three children: $133,562
These figures featured through SmartAsset’s analysis reflect incomes needed to properly provide basics and necessities. A separate SmartAsset analysis also published in February found single working adults in Pennsylvania should make $91,312 each year to live comfortably — defined as covering basic needs, funding “wants and desires” and properly sustaining savings accounts and paying off debts.
At a glance, MIT’s Living Wage Calculator suggests Centre County parents raising two children should each make about $28.92 per hour to support the household with a living wage. A single working adult with no children in Centre County needs roughly $23.15 per hour to make a living wage.
Pennsylvania’s legal minimum wage remains $7.25 per hour, regardless of experience or tip status. Lawmakers in the state House passed a bill in 2023 that sought to raise the commonwealth’s minimum wage to $15 per hour, but its progress remains stalled in the Republican-controlled state Senate.
Pennsylvania’s minimum wage has not increased since it rose from $5.15 per hour in 2009, leaving the Keystone State’s figure ranked among the lowest hourly minimum wages in the U.S. Neighboring states like New York, New Jersey and Maryland all offer hourly minimum wages of at least $15, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
How does the rest of the country compare?
Broadly speaking, Hawaii and Massachusetts are the most expensive states for families in 2024, according to SmartAsset’s report. Both required the highest median income needed to afford necessities in six of the 12 family structures the analysis examined.
In its analysis, SmartAsset suggests Massachusetts families can save significantly if one adult stays home to reduce expensive child care costs in the Bay State. By leaving at least one adult home to watch the kids, Massachusetts parents could save about $11,000 per child per year, SmartAsset writes.
Arizona, Arkansas, Michigan and West Virginia offered the lowest required incomes to afford necessities for the 12 family structures examined in SmartAsset’s study. Arkansas proved the most affordable for families with only one child, while Michigan took that honor for families with two or three children. A working adult with no children in West Virginia can afford necessities by making just $39,386 per year — the lowest rate in the country.
Through its analysis, SmartAsset found a childless couple needs to make about 30% less than a single adult to adequately cover necessities.
Life in the U.S. has generally grown more expensive in recent years, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index. Through April 2024, the cost of all items measured by the bureau has grown about 3.4% over the last year, with food prices (2.2%), shelter (5.5%) and energy services (3.6%) seeing notable gains. An 11.2% hike over the past 12 months gives transportation services the largest average jump in cost.
You can read SmartAsset’s full study by visiting smartasset.com/data-studies/family-minimum-income-state-2024.
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