Ventura County Income Requirements...

From today's Ventura County Star:

A family of four in Ventura County that includes two young children and two working adults needs an income of $82,231 just “to achieve a modest standard of living without assistance from public programs,” a report released Thursday concludes.

That amount exceeds the countywide median household income of $76,190, which means more than half of county families make less than that.

The study, called “Making Ends Meet,” was prepared by the nonpartisan California Budget Project, a group that advocates for government policies that assist low- and middle-income workers.

The minimum amount needed for a single adult in the county to live modestly was pegged at $34,764, which translates to an hourly wage of $16.71 for a full-time worker...

“It’s a reality check on what it costs to support a family in California, allowing only for the basics,” said researcher Alissa Anderson. “They need well into the range of what’s considered middle-income to make ends meet.”

The amounts, broken down for each county in California, were calculated using government and private industry data that detail median rents, child-care rates, health insurance premiums, taxes and costs for food and transportation.

After all those expenses are met, the hypothetical family of four with an $82,231 income would have $479 per month left over for “miscellaneous” items, including saving for retirement or college expenses.

Uhh... hmm... oooookay... that doesn't make me feel to good (not that I didn't already intuitively know this).