Allow me to illustrate why “average national cost of living” and “federal poverty level” is garbage.
So my husband makes 3k a month. That’s not bad! Now, apartments and other home rentals require, BY LAW, 3 times rent in monthly income, unless you’re doing special Section 8 housing. So on a monthly gross income of 3k, you are looking at a rent budget of 1000. National averages put rent at about $650 a month. So finding a place to live should be a breeze, right?
Say we were going to have or already had a kid or two. We would need a 2 bedroom apartment. It would also need to be within commuting distance of work. We’re not picky about the kind of rental--apartment, house, townhome, etc-- so we will leave that open.
Putting those parameters into Zillow, here’s what we get in various cities where my husband’s field might theoretically be hiring.
First, Cincinnati, OH:
That’s quite a few options for 1000 a month or less! Not many came in under $650, like the supposed national average, but it’s at least within parameters!
Next, Pittsburgh, PA:
See that banner at the top? ONLY showing 500 homes?! There were so many that met our search criteria that they had to filter! Again, only a handful came in under $650, but we’re looking good so far!
Another Pennsylvania city, Philadelphia this time because surely Philly would be a bit more expensive...
Fewer, but I’ll be darned if they weren’t all under $900 except for 2 or 3! But, oddly, none were under $850.
Now, for the area we’re in.
We live with my husband’s folks, and my husband commutes every day to work. But the drive is close to 2 hours each way because of the traffic. So we want to find something closer to his work, not only to save his sanity and back, and not only to give us more time together in the mornings and evenings (as it is we get 1.5 hours in the morning and 1.5 at night, which means he has to spend more time on the road than with his wife), but to save us gas money and save mileage on our already ancient car.
So let’s look within commuting distance of my husband’s current workplace. A commute that would still be really long, but at least shorter than what he has right now. And since housing is in such high demand here, let’s go back down to a 1 bedroom requirement rather than 2. Surely there are options?
We have a total of 7 dots. They’re hard to see because I’ve already clicked on all of them. Of the 7, 2 were ads for the state’s history curation program, where rich people can essentially live on historical properties for low rent if they agree to help restore it and maintain it. We don’t qualify, so that’s 2 of 7 out. In the remaining 5, one was a student room, 2 were for single male professionals only, 1 was a basement studio with a microwave with an occupancy limit of 1, and one was an ad for a female roommate.
There are literally no apartments we can get in this entire area for 1k a month.
And here’s the kicker: I can’t work because my husband has our only transportation, and he has it all day because he has to commute. We can’t get an apartment for more than his monthly earnings until I work, but I can’t work until I have some form of transportation, or live within walking/public transit distance of my workplace. But we can’t move until we make more money. You see the problem?
And that’s not even counting all the other costs of living in our area--food prices, gas prices, insurance for health and car, renters insurance which is required by more than half the places available-- we would have to do all that on 1.5k a month because even if we found rent for 1k, taxes take out over $500 a month from the 3k we started with. If we weren’t living with family right now, we’d be living in our car, homeless. Because it’s literally impossible for us to afford living here.
Yet we make well over the federal poverty limit. So much, in fact, that we don’t qualify for Section 8 housing/ housing assistance, because 3k a month is more than enough to live above the federal cost of living. After all, average national rent is only $650 a month!
Averages at state and national level do NOT accurately measure local costs of living. Local measures have to be taken into account when we’re considering poverty, because local housing is where it all starts. Can’t get a job til you live in the area; can’t live in the area til you’ve got a job. Can’t get a better job til you live closer. Can’t change jobs when you’re trying to figure out how to get to work so you can pay your rent. So poverty begets poverty.
I don’t say any of this to make people feel sorry for us; we really do have it good. We have a place to live, we have food, we have people who care about us. But I want people to understand the complex nature of work, poverty, and housing difficulties, so I used an example I can illustrate in depth. We aren’t as bad off as many other people out there, and I recognize that, and I am grateful for that.
I just want people to really get it. Just because numbers say you’re fine doesn’t mean you really are. So please don’t assume that just because someone doesn’t qualify for public assistance, they’re doing alright and don’t actually need public assistance. Averages let a lot of folks slip through the cracks.
And let’s just say it right now: telling someone to “just move” or “just get a different job” when they’re struggling to live where they are is NOT a solution! It’s practically impossible to move when you’re struggling already. And how are you supposed to find a new job if you’re spending 12+ hours a day working your current job? Just don’t. Migrating to where the work is just won’t fly in today’s economy. Poor people can’t afford that, even if they can’t afford not to.
