The latest in the Self-Sufficiency Standard Studies series has just been published. See http://www.wvbep.org/bep/lmi/selfsufficiency/self%20sufficiency%20standard%2009.pdf

The Self-Sufficiency Standard is a consistent methodology for demonstrating the barebones cost to live independently at an “all needs met, but no frills” budget level, by county. It assumes rental housing suited to the size and configuration of the family (though opposite-sex children may share a bedroom); an average paid-off car for each adult; childcare suitable to the ages of the children so that all adults can work; health care, including employer-provided insurance; 100% homemade meals at the USDA Low-Cost Food Plan level (about $2 per person per meal); miscellaneous costs at 10% of the subtotal of the preceding categories; taxes, less EITC, CCTC and CTC.

Here’s how it stacks up, for the least and most expensive counties in West Virginia:

Lowest-Cost County in WV

Highest-Cost County in WV Federal Poverty Guideline CountySSS % FPG

CountySSS % FPG Single Adult $10,830 Randolph$17,033157% Jefferson $20,359188%Adult and an infant $14,570 Cabell $25,319 174% Jefferson $28,961199%Adult and a preschooler$14,570 Gilmer $25,249 174% Hampshire $29,379202%Adult, an infant and a preschooler$18,310 Braxton $32,140176% Hampshire $36,558200%Adult, schoolage and a teenager$18,310 Fayette & others $25,800141% Jefferson $29,713162%Adult, infant, preschooler and schoolage$22,050 Greenbrier $40,499184% Jefferson $48,277219%Two adults, infant and a preschooler$22,050 Braxton $42,972195% Jefferson $46,397210%Two adults, preschooler and schoolage$22,050 Braxton $41,671189% Jefferson $44,995204%

A few observations from this data. I’m putting aside the differences among counties, just looking at the least and most expensive counties in a state most of us realize is among theleastexpensive in the US.**

  • Adding an infant to a single adult costs about $8,000 (after about $3,000 in tax credits), – and this methodology makes no particular accounting for costs like a crib, or car seat or stroller or diapers; it accounts for childcare and food and housing and healthcare for that infant, plus 10% more for “all other”. The Federal Poverty Guideline calculation allows less than $4,000, and that child brings no wages.
  • Two adults, and infant and a preschooler can live for roughly $10,000 more than than a single adult with the same two children, and it costs $17,000 to $20,000 for a single adult to get by alone. So while two can’t live as cheaply as one, there are economies – and divorce creates great financial hardships (as well as the reverse being true). Again, the FPG calculation allows less than $4,000 for the additional person in the household, but the second adult can generally earn more than that amount. The combined FPG for the single parent with 2 children and the single adult comes to $29,140, while the family of four is considered to be in poverty with an income below $22,050.

This Self-Sufficiency Standard Study didn’t show what percentage of West Virginia’s households live below the SSS level, but when I’ve done the calculation for Connecticut, Colorado and California, I’ve found that roughly 40% of the children live in families with insufficient income to meet their most modestly defined needs.

How can a society dedicated to the proposition that we’re all created equal accept that?