www.epi.org Open in urlscan Pro
2606:4700:10::6816:48e  Public Scan

Form analysis
0 forms found in the DOM

Text Content

 * About
   * About EPI
   * Events
   * Newsroom
   * Careers
   * Staff
   * Board of Directors
   * Newsletter
   * Contact Us
   * Why Give to EPI
   * Donate
 * Areas of Research
   * Budget, Taxes, and Public Investment
   * Child Labor
   * Economic Growth
   * Program on Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy
   * Education
   * Health
   * Inequality and Poverty
   * Jobs and Unemployment
   * Minimum Wage
   * Immigration
   * Regulation
   * Retirement
   * Unions and Labor Standards
   * Trade and Globalization
   * Wages, Incomes, and Wealth
   * Coronavirus Pandemic
   * View all
 * Data Library
 * Publications
 * Experts
 * Resources
   * View all
   * Economic Indicators
     * Jobs and Unemployment
     * State Jobs and Unemployment
     * State Unemployment by Race and Ethnicity
     * JOLTS
     * Minimum Wage Tracker
     * Nominal Wage Tracker
     * GDP
     * Income & Poverty
     * Productivity–Pay Gap
   * Family Budget Calculator
   * Low Wage Workforce Tracker
   * Policy Agenda
   * Company Wage Tracker
   * Tax & Spending Explorer
   * Anti-racist Policy Research
   * Multimedia
   * State of Working America
   * Economic Analysis and Research Network (EARN)
   * Projects
     * State of Working America
     * Inequality.is
     * Building Worker Power
   * Social Media Toolkit
 * Blog
 * Donate




FAMILY BUDGET CALCULATOR

ShareTweet

EPI's Family Budget Calculator measures the income a family needs in order to
attain a modest yet adequate standard of living. The budgets estimate
community-specific costs for 10 family types (one or two adults with zero to
four children) in all counties and metro areas in the United States. Compared
with the federal poverty line and the Supplemental Poverty Measure, EPI's family
budgets provide a more accurate and complete measure of economic security in
America.

1 adult2 adults
and
no children 1 child 2 children 3 children 4 children
Monthly Annual Add comparison


MONTHLY COSTS

••• adults and  ••• children•••
HOUSING •••
Housing costs are based on the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s
fair market rents, which represent rental costs (shelter rent plus utilities) at
the 40th percentile in a given area for privately owned, structurally safe, and
sanitary rental housing of a modest nature with suitable amenities. Studio
apartments were used for one-adult families, one-bedroom apartments for
two-adult families, two-bedroom apartments for families with one or two
children, and three-bedroom apartments for families with three or four children.
FOOD •••
Food costs are based on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s national “low-cost”
food plan and adjusted to each area using multipliers from Feeding America’s Map
the Meal Gap data. The low-cost plan is the second-least-expensive of the four
Official USDA Food Plans and assumes almost all food is bought at the grocery
store and then prepared at home. The USDA food plans represent the amount
families need to spend to achieve nutritionally adequate diets.
CHILD CARE •••
Child care expenses are based on costs of center-based child care and
family-based care for 4-year-olds and school-age children, as reported by the
Child Care Aware of America. We assume all families in urban areas use
center-based care and all families in rural areas use family-based care. For
one-child families, we assume the child is 4 years old. For families with more
than one child, we assume the additional children are ages 8, 12, and 16,
respectively.
Transportation •••
Transportation expenses are a combination of the costs of auto ownership, auto
use, and transit use. Transportation cost data were provided by the Center for
Neighborhood Technology (CNT). CNT created a modified version of transportation
costs from its Housing and Transportation Affordability Index to account for
differences in family types in the Family Budget Calculator.
HEALTH CARE •••
Health care expenses include insurance premiums and out-of-pocket costs, and
assume families purchase the lowest cost bronze plans on the health insurance
exchange established under the Affordable Care Act. Data on premiums come from
the Kaiser Family Foundation and the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS). Out-of-pocket medical costs are calculated from HHS’s Medical
Expenditure Panel Survey.
OTHER NECESSITIES •••
Other necessities include apparel, personal care, household supplies (which
include items ranging from furnishings to cleaning supplies to phone service),
reading materials, and school supplies. The costs for these items come from the
Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey, and use data reported
for households in the second (from the bottom) fifth of households in the
household income distribution.
TAXES •••
Taxes are calculated from the National Bureau of Economic Research’s Internet
TAXSIM, an online tool that calculates information on federal personal income
taxes, state income taxes, and federal Social Security and Medicare payroll
taxes.
Monthly Total •••

Annual Total •••



View the Family Budget Map
View the Family Budget Fact Sheets

Source: Economic Policy Institute Family Budget Calculator, January 2024. Data
are in 2023 dollars. Download the full dataset. 

Note: Please see our user’s guide on ways to turn our family budgets into
potential living wage standards. Download our list of these living wage
standards for all counties, states, and metro areas.

 

View methodology


EPI is an independent, nonprofit think tank that researches the impact of
economic trends and policies on working people in the United States. EPI’s
research helps policymakers, opinion leaders, advocates, journalists, and the
public understand the bread-and-butter issues affecting ordinary Americans.

FOLLOW EPI



1225 Eye St. NW, Suite 600
Washington, DC 20005
Phone: 202-775-8810 • epi@epi.org
© 2024 Economic Policy Institute
Privacy Policy • Contact Us

PROJECTS

STATE OF WORKING AMERICA DATA LIBRARY

Authoritative, up-to-date data on the living standards of American workers.

PROGRAM ON RACE, ETHNICITY, AND THE ECONOMY • PREE

Exploring how race, ethnicity, and class intersect to affect economic outcomes
in the United States.

UNEQUAL POWER

There’s an inherent imbalance of bargaining power between employers and
employees. Here's how it impacts your workplace—and our democracy.

POLICY AGENDA

Policy choices have tilted the playing field toward the rich and corporations.
Here's how to tilt it back.

TAX & SPENDING EXPLORER

How do taxes and spending work, and where do you fit in?

INEQUALITY.IS

Interactive tools and videos bringing clarity to the national dialogue on
economic inequality.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

AFFILIATED PROGRAMS

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS AND RESEARCH NETWORK • EARN

A network of state and local organizations improving workers' lives through
research and advocacy.

ABOUT EPI

Staff
Board of Directors
Jobs at EPI
Contact us
Why give to EPI
Newsroom
Newsletter
Events
Donate


The Economic Policy Institute staff is unionized with the Nonprofit Professional
Employees Union.





ShareThis Copy and Paste

Get new research, insightful graphics, and event invites from EPI sent to your
inbox every week.
Please enter a valid email.Subscribe