So, what's one got to make to live well in Kona?

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by KaraBenNemsi

Where does this website get their numbers from?!?

Details can be found on the About the Living Wage Calculator page: Living Wage Calculator - About the Living Wage Calculator

$85 for individual medical coverage is neither available from HMSA or Kaiser, which are our two options in Hawai'i. Maybe in 1975 or so.

"Healthcare
Data are from the 2010 Consumer Expenditure Survey and the 2010 wave of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey."

IOW, what people reported actually spending.

$8 for food per day is a joke. And those $242 for monthly food costs are mentioned for each and every city.

"Food
Data are from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 2010 low-cost food plan. Regional adjustment factors are from the U.S. Department of Argriculture Economic Research Service."

And we just saw that $8 a day is, in fact, not a joke, but a practical, if minimal, baseline. To be honest, in my volunteer work I sometimes furnish rides to people who are retired or on disability income who live on less.

Keep in mind this is not a calculation of what would be a middle class existance. This is a baseline, from the Poverty in America project, an estimate of the minimum it takes to live, which is in sharp contrast to the federal "poverty level." In this case the Federal figure is only about half of what the Living Wage calculator figures the REAL poverty level is.

Federal Poverty Level, Hawai'i, 1 person = $12,584/yr, MIT Living Wage = $21,139, OP's Wage = $50,000

So the point of this exercise was to show that the OP should be fine on a wage that is more than double the minimum required to live in Kona.

[KaraBenNemsi]

Point taken--I probably refuse to become an expert in US poverty and rather look forward.

The original header of this thread was: So, what's one got to make to live well in Kona?