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These questions always depends on the persons spending habits and location. In a low cost area, $16 and hour should be easy for a frugal person or family. My husband and I made $10 an hour full time, did just fine with mortgage and little to no debt. We went out to eat, movies, vacationed ect. $16 an hour, to me is very good. Where I am at, that's a great wage. Many make less and still do just fine.
In higher cost areas, that may just be enough to get by or not enough.
I already support myself (and have a mortgage) on less than $16 an hour. There are a lot of factors involved regarding the ability to support oneself. One factor is the choices that people make with their money. A person has to know the difference between wants and needs and should also have their priorities in order.
Just discovered that my nephew has been working as a truck driver (local delivery of building products) and this appears to be his lifelong career.
I'm wondering how hard it is to survive on $16 per hour these days. He's in a low cost of living area. (For reference, the MIT living wage calculator shows the living wage of this area to be $10.20 per hour.)
It really depends on where you live and the number of dependents, your health insurance plan, etc. In the early 80s I had a difficult time finding a 1 bedroom apartment near Boston for less than $600. Now that same apartment would be $1800 or $2,000 a month. However, where I live now, in a small rural town in Western NC, you can easily find a nice condo for $600 and it's 35 years later. However, there are few jobs here and the wages are very low.
Plenty of retirees live on a lot less so, again, it depends on your needs, where you live and your personal lifestyle. I think it would be difficult to raise a family on $33,000 anywhere you live without a second income, but a single person should be able to get by.
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