If you are living paycheck-to-paycheck making around 100K it's not inflation's fault: it's lifestyle creep.
- 100,000 household income, about 1/3 of that is going directly to income tax. Net is going to be maybe $70-78,000.
- average 2-bedroom apartment rent is around $2800-3200/month: call it $34,000/year. (Because they rent, they can't benefit from mortgage interest tax deduction.) This doesn't include utilities, which have gone bonkers in MA the past few years.
- Childcare/preschool for young kids in Massachusetts is between 15-20,000 PER CHILD PER YEAR. Our example family could be paying $30,000 a year for childcare so both parents can work.
- It's possible that one or both parents are still repaying student loans at 7% interest. Let's say only one parent has a student loan payment, $300/mo which is a little under the average for MA. $3,600/year.
- This example assumes that nobody in the family owns a car! While I know families with young children who get by on public transit only, it can be difficult even in the heart of a city.
I recognize this isn't a popular view but we are living in a white-hot employment market with tons of employers offering remote work. You could move to Chicago, which has better public transit, pay nearly half that in rent and get free Pre-K.
Even public transport has a cost per use. $2 per trip, twice a day, around 260 days per year = $1040 for each of those parents.
And that theoretical family is gonna starve, you mentioned leaving out utilities but also forgot food and we're already down to like $300 per year left.