Just to scrape by in Seattle, a family of four would need to earn $76,000 in a year — an 86 percent jump since 2001 — according to a new report from the University of Washington.
And by scrape by, I really mean scrape by.
There isn’t a vacation, a splurge item at Nordstrom, or even a little treat written into that budget, says the report’s author, Diana Pearce, who is a senior lecturer in the UW School of Social Work and director of the Center for Women’s Welfare.
“It’s a basic-needs budget, at a minimally adequate level,” she said. “So the food budget, for example, is only groceries. There’s not a slice of pizza, a latte or an ice- cream cone in there.”
And that’s using public transportation, not owning a car or using ride services.
For a single person in Seattle, the minimum income needed to stay afloat is $12.90 per hour, or about $27,000 per year. On those earnings, a little more than half of the monthly budget goes toward rent, estimated at $1,236.