In Atlanta GA, for 2 adults (both working) and 2 children you would need a combined annual income of $103,459 just to meet basic needs according to this data.
Correct. Things are alot more expensive than 4% inFLaTiOn i see going around. i have no idea how people with kids are affording to live in the city im in.
Most of that sounds like leisure to me. Their "other" category also includes:
> Expenditures for other necessities are based on 2021 data by household size from the 2021 Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey including: (1) Apparel and services, (2) Housekeeping supplies, (3) Personal care products and services, (4) Reading, and (5) Miscellaneous.
Which I suspect has a lot of unnecessary expenses baked in (if I understand correctly, they're using average spending). For my situation/location, those two categories account for 27% of the before-tax cost of living they come up with. Looking at my last 12 months of expenses, we're slightly above what they give as the cost-of-living in my area, and I feel like we're living pretty well. Certainly not at bare minimum.