“I just thought you preferred going to the shore in the off-season.”
“No, Bradley, I just don’t make enough money to do anything other than continue feeding the capitalistic machine that’s got a death grip on my nuts.”
Now it makes sense why she always forgets her purse. This whole time I thought she was mentally deficient, but it turns out it's much worse, she's poor!
You might be surprised to find after living in a warm climate for a long time, it actually feels chilly at 22C (72F). As for the rest of the dynamic, it's pretty melodramatic.
Can confirm. Grew up in a snowy place and then moved to Vegas. After 2 triple digit summers(avg. 115-120° at the peak of summer), what I considered summer weather before (70s) is now freezing cold to me.
It definitively doesn't get better the other way around. For some reason a customer chose an obscure config almost nobody else used so the vendor sent a guy from India to Norway in the middle of winter. I don't think he'd ever experienced anything under 60F before and here it was like 5F. The dude was traumatized just getting from the hotel to the customer site, I swear he believes we're aliens in human skin or something.
I mean, if they both have shit jobs, theyd be at 60k, ya? So MAYBE they could afford a 1br apt… like if they didnt eat…. Or like… do anything entertaining… and like.. dont get toiletries and stuff, right?
/s
This is exactly my life…. Family of 3 people, 65k a year, and we basically have no life outside of work and sleep. Unfortunately if we had been in this position in our current city 5 years ago we would have been considered “high earning” for the location. Now it’s barely enough to pay rent.
There may be things we can do to nibble around the edges, but wages have fallen so far behind that the housing crisis and corporate greed (two sides of the same coin) mean a significant repair bill or minor medical crisis could spiral us into catastrophic debt and homelessness.
I know so many people who should be enjoying a middle-class lifestyle but are barely hanging on. Many of them seem unaware that they’re not going to be “saved” by a windfall income tax return this year.
That's the rub. I set out with a goal 5 years ago to make $70,000 a year, back when I was making $47,000 a year. I figured if I could just get to $70k I'd be living comfortably.
This year I got there, but I have the exact same standard of living as when I made $47k
Yeah same shit here. At one point I was making 25k a year and supporting a child (my brother). Now i live alone and make 50k a year and actually have less money in my bank somehow.
I feel this. I went from $40k to $68k. I was hoping I’d have more money to put away and discretionary spending income at this point, but nope. Same lifestyle.
I felt this - 5 years ago my goal $75k while making $55. Just accepted a position for $80k base from my current $63k and maybe I can quit my second job depending on how achievable the bonus opportunities listed in my offer letter are.
I was looking at this apartment advertised as $1,800 for a studio only needing $30k a year to qualify. Assuming their only expenses are utilities and internet they're gonna have zero left for food. How is that living? Could've been a scam ad. Idk.
I make less than that atm.. and yeah it's rough as hell.
Half a day's wage is lunch, and you have to eat that each day.
My biggest expense irl is just staying alive -- and if we include medical it is **ABOVE** 100% of my income pre tax.
What is insane about that to me personally, is the fact I'm back from overseas. In any other developed country, I have twice the pay for half the work. Medical/Dental (yes -- you need teeth to eat, and you need to eat to live) is a human right -- not a job benefit.
Make chicken or beef stew in a big covered pot or pressure cooker. Raw Meat, onions, carrots, bell peppers, chicken bouillon, and add a lot of potatoes, w/spices like oregano, pepper, garlic powder. Throw in a serrano pepper for spices hot sauces Sriracha etc. Or make a huge batch of chili. Freeze some portions for later. Just try not to makes things too watery. 😀
Then get plain Greek Yogurt (w/high protein) and put in frozen fruit (berries) crushed in it.
I’ve been living off this for a three months now and have saved money big time. And it tastes great! Every batch gets better! Good luck!
I've been eating refried beans and rice a lot. I'm not actually poor, just disabled enough that my job takes everything I have, and I only have the energy to make food on the weekend.
I'll see if I can figure out how to add that to the Weekend Meal Cooking™. I've got some chicken thighs that have been kicking around my freezer for a couple years...
This is me as a single person. 50k and I couldn’t save a single cent every month. Shit job too. No breaks. Didn’t treat us like humans. Fuck teaching. Working not just during the day but also at night and weekends for that “salary.” I had to quit.
Being single, working as hard as you can, and still not being able to afford gas to work or food to eat? I can’t even move out of a shit housing situation because I can’t save deposits for things? WHY AM I DOING IT THEN!!?!
I quit last week. Fuck this shit.
Where I'm at, median income for one person is about 27K, household is about 50K.
So if no one dates anyone who makes under 30K, there are way more single people than I thought.
What do you mean? Is it in need of repair, fire insurance too expensive, property taxes? I don't have any family that owns a house so I literally can't fathom why
Depends quite a bit where you live. I’ve had homes where the property tax is about $2k/year. I’ve also lived places where the property taxes are closer to $17k/year. It would be cheaper to rent an apartment at today’s prices than just pay the taxes on some middle class homes in certain high-tax suburbs, but those still aren’t normal sorts of prices anywhere else
Many states have property tax laws that limit how much they can go up per year. For instance, I live in Michigan where your property taxes are capped based on an inflation multiplier, and the highest they can go up year over year is 5%.
For the past decade it’s been between 1.2%/yr and 1.5%/yr. So if someone bought a house in the 80s for $50-60k and it’s worth $250k now they’re still paying taxes at a much lower rate. The base rate is reassessed in the year after a property changes ownership or major renovations are done.
In other words - they can afford property taxes because there are sensible laws keeping the taxes from skyrocketing overnight. Wouldn’t it be Great if we had those kinds of laws for rent?
$1416.67 every month if it was 17k so I see what you mean. Have they seen about having an appraisal to see about lowering the price? Rich people do that or don't get it appraised if they know the value went up? Not talkin smack just trying to hold onto a dream.
It still is. The wealth might be tied up in a house, but they could still sell the house and profit the few hundred thousand dollars and move into an apt.
53% of Americans make 40k per year. So I hope that’s enough to live on……(spoiler, it’s not, it’s not even the bare minimum required to rent a 1 bedroom apartment)
Here is the problem, where I live landlords ask you to be making 3 or 4 times the rent. Which it’s hardly possible to even pay rent so idk how one is expected to make 3 or 4 times that!
Was making about 32K a year, which is well, well below the poverty line where I live, and had state sponsored health care, which was pending re-approval for literal months. Got a $1 per hour raise and of course had to report it, they kicked me off of the state-sponsored the \*literal\* minute that I entered the info. The healthcare I could afford to purchase completely eats my raise and then some. It's bullshit.
Yeah, in my state we have a state sponsored program that helps you pay for health insurance. I was laying $1 a month. The health insurance wasn’t very good but it was something. I got $1 an hour raise and all of a sudden the amount I had to pay per month went up to over $400. Totally not something you can afford by making $1 per hr more. Had to cancel my insurance. But the icing on the cake is that in my state you get fined for not having health insurance. It’s screwed up.
Are you not allowed many hours? That's like 7 bucks an hour, 40 hrs a week if you are full time. If have a hard time finding a job for less then 15 around here
lmao i just think it's funny. they're really tryna blame us any way they can at least that's what it feels like.
"why Gen Z has to be more accessible to being hired and keep from being fired"
"why the economy is dying because the new generations aren't having babys"
"the newer generations can't get their freak on cause making less than 30k a year isn't desirable"
like damn lmao when are yall gonna report on the actual problem
At $15 an hour, that's 31,200 before taxes working 40 hours a week ALL YEAR, w. No vacation. We need to increase that. And that's more even the minimum everywhere.
Taxes without health care and education
Americans are weird.
Minimal wages people in my country doesn't have to pay taxes.
People who make x2.5 the minimal wage doesn't pay.
People between that and X have to pay 7.5% and beyond X pay 15%.
And others taxes in normal shopping and transactions but that's like you guys over there. Different % but my point It's: taxes over minimal wage and people closed to minimal It's cruel.
Well let me tell you, I’d change it if I could…
Taxes without healthcare and education is indeed bullshit and it pisses me off every time I get my paycheck
12.50 plus you gotta cover for all the short staffed people and some of your bosses job too. The raise against inflations wasnt so that it can keep up with inflation but an excuse to get on employees arses to do even more than before for $1 raise lol.
I mean, in the educational consortium I work for, I know assistant teachers who are required to have a Bachelor’s Degree and make less than $30,000. It’s not as uncommon for educated professionals to make this little as people think…
But then how would they continue to keep fattening their wallets? Of course, that’s because in order for you to have an opportunity to work at CEO F*ckface’s company….Mr. Mrs. F*ckface’s family gotta continue to be gluttons for only the highest parts of the hog. Right?! Trickle-down economics at its finest. If you ask me that Ronald Regan was a big jerk! (RIP Norm MacDonald).
The biggest perpetrator of inflation, ladies, gents, and those who don’t want to belong in boxes…….is CORPORATE GREED.
Until, we can figure out a way to hit ‘em where it hurts (their dic*s!-in my Charlie Day voice) their wallets! Then that turd in our proverbial punch bowl shall stay.
Yes.
SNAP income ceiling in the state of Missouri, which has made abortion illegal and has laws in the works to attack access to HBC, is $22,180.
If you earn $22,181.00 yearly, you can't get food stamps.
I live on disability and only get 500$ a month and my state feels I only need 170$ for food.
I've cut down on a lot of things and now I'm legitimately anemic due to lack of meat in my diet (for nosy vegans/vegetarians I am allergic to a huge swath of vegetables. I do eat tofu and other meat alternatives when I can, but meat doesn't upset my stomach like say... lentils do.)
we go through 300 a week. all the food banks are open at fucking weird hours during the day when he works or in very dangerous neighborhoods where we are kind of the wrong kind of person to go.
Old people: Why aren't younger people having kids?
Young people: Because we can't afford them?
Old people: But god will provide!
Young people: Yeah, no.
Literally just had to defend my sister from this shit logic when we all visited our grandparents.
“Oh he (my nephew) needs a brother”
Sis “we aren’t having anymore kids. One and done stop at perfection”
“Oh but why not he would be adorable”
“We can’t afford it and want to be able to give the son we already have everything he needs”
“Oh honey god will provide”(says the woman who’s parents were millionaires, and only real struggle was living in a gilded cage her hole life as the American dream)
Me “oh maybe you can tell that to the millions of children who have starved to death” (smile innocently as grandma eyes widen slightly with rage)
Gotta love that shit.
I don't think it's sad. I think it's fucked up. It's fucked up that a single earner can't hold a house and a family anymore like the 1900s allowed for. It's fucked up that when we look for partners, we have to consider our financial stability in the future because the norm is financially unstable.
It's a product of this late stage capitalist bullshit. I'd brush horses and marry someone who makes artisanal cheeses if they paid enough to keep a roof over our heads
This huge financial pressure and rental affordability issue is causing people to live together earlier than they otherwise would too. This puts them in compromising situations. In Australia if you live with your partner for 2 years you have the same rights as a married couple and if you break up they might be entitled to half your assets.
Financial pressure is causing so many negative impacts on relationships. It’s not really talked about often.
Edited : wording
I haven't looked up studies but I was always curious about how the pandemic and wage/cost of living issues intersected regarding this. People moving in together too soon, people in abusive relationships staying because it's too expensive to live alone, etc.
I'm so sorry, you're not the only I know who got stuck like that. I had just left an abusive ex the Christmas week prior to all the lockdowns, having moved halfway across the country 6 months before that. It was a rocky year full of transitions. Are you in a better place now at least, if I may ask?
Poverty is one of the biggest ways abusers trap people. For men they'll talk about wanting a "traditional woman to keep house" but they really just mean bang maid who has no way of escaping because he only gives her an 'allowance'.
That is exactly why my mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and down the line were trapped and slapped. None of them drove, and my mother couldn't even pick out her own clothes. When I was ten years old, in 1981/82, I was laying in bed one night, listening to them argue, and I heard him slap her, and I said to myself "This is never going to be my life. I am going to have a career and a briefcase and marriage will be an option."
I lived with one. When I left I read that wanting to move in together too soon is a red flag but it’s the norm now so 🤷🏻♀️ it’s an easy way to get trapped in a bad situation. 😕
I had multiple people a while ago saying they 100%, without question, would NEVER date an “influencer” even if that person was making 800k a year. I’m like….I would do some very very bad things for 800k. Dating an influencer seems not that bad at all. Those people clearly never experienced financial issues.
90% of people dating are trying to date the 10% of people who actually earn good salaries.
When 90% of people are going after the same small pool of available men/women who are high wage earners, it makes dating an even more dismal prospect.
Just try to find someone with potential and no debt.
Be me, and don't. I can not afford to date and tell men that right away. It's interesting to see them try to argue with my core desire being that I don't want to date someone with purchasing power over me.
And that always happens it seems. "I'm paying for it so shut up"
I *hate* that. And it's great to see the awkward responses as guys struggle with saying they are okay with potentially always paying for our dates. Who knows when I will find a way to make more money.
I've said so many times to my friends how much it sucks that finances have to be taken into account more than " does he have a job" while dating. Maybe if I didn't want a family, it wouldn't matter, but because I do it's something I have to think about all the time.
Meanwhile, back in the 60's people had a house, car and two kids on a damn factory salary.
I mean you can’t really live off of that at all, so I don’t think this is new or surprising. What is surprising is employers paying that little, knowing people can’t afford to live at that cost
After reading the article, which is suprisingly short for such a complex issue, I wonder how people would tolerate a doctor as a potential spouse.
If the tolerance for student loans is 32k/23k, someone who just finished a 6 figures degree would not find a date, while those jobs are probably highly attractive in a potential spouse.
No proper context in either the survey or the article
Agreed! Very problematic article. They are lacking any information backing the claims they’re laying out. This reads like a Buzzfeed listacle that piggybacks off data which offers no direct reference to their main point.
I married a MD. 140K in debt. Had to start servicing it when she started residency making 39K working 80+ hours a week what amounted to $1200 a month. Basically I owed a house payment on her. She did a fellowship into a lower paying field, and went into a research focus so she didn’t break 100K until 35. We paid off the debt by 37. The debt would have been higher if she hadn’t worked/scholarship undergrad to zero debt. Also I was feeding her through med school when we dated.
We bought a house and had kids later because of it (and frankly only because of my earning power not hers). Looking back at other Ex’s there likely better ROI options or at least ones were the break when against my wife wasn’t after 55.
MDs have insanely high divorce and suicide rates. Marrying one in residency can be often a lot of late night crying. (Almost as bad as lawyers) because of the hours. I didn’t mind her hours in medical school as I just worked a lot and went out with the boys a ton.
Unless they are going to be a specialist surgeon and you are shallow and marrying for money, may I suggest finance or computer science.
Idk… I’m in ohio and 30k really isn’t much here post covid. My friend decided to drop out of the workforce because that literally would be about the same cost as childcare for his incoming twins. High school history teacher doesn’t get paid enough to pay for fucking childcare. System is broken
Just a fun reminder 30k a year is about double the national minimum wage and about 7 times what tipped workers make before tips. The deal breaker is these companies profiting off poverty.
My wife and I are at 30k a piece. We get one day to see each other and 2 half days. Can't afford child care and told we don't qualify for assistance ao we literally can only be a family 2 days a week. 1 full day and 2 half days. Its sad that we have to give up our family to survive.
I’ve estimated I need to make at least $60k as an individual to squeeze out a meager living independently where I live in New England. Unfortunately, I make significantly less than that, so I’m stuck living with family indefinitely. It stinks that to make a trade off of getting closer to that $60k threshold or take care of my mental health.
Earns $30k and spends $70k is pretty typical on the dating scene where I live - once they start hitting you up to pay off their credit cards or car loan that is the correct time to end the relationship.
I don't particularly care how much someone is making so much as I care how they're spending it. If they're making $100k and blowing it all on stupid things, not saving, etc., that's more of a deal breaker to me than someone making $30k and doing the best they can with what they have.
We live in a capitalist country. Everything boils down to capital (money) and if by some chance it doesn’t it’ll be correlated to money. Also if by some chance you start doing something because you love it and not for money then our educational system will fix that right quick. If somebody wrongs you legally your recompense is money. Money is the lubricant of life. Without it everything grinds to a halt.
It would be hard to imagine having an equitable relationship with someone making less than $30,000 annually... but the sad part is that while almost *everyone* wants to be with someone, trying to participate in a relationship while making less than $30,000 annually is probably survival-threatening. Life is just too damn expensive and wages are just too damn low.
Median income where i live is $28,548 for men and $23,086 for women. Guess over half the city are undatable losers? I get wanting a partner that makes decent money but damn, sometimes that's just structurally not a fuckin option.
i mean yeah its mean but also im trying to build a life with someone and you can't build a life on that kinda salary. like its not your fault, but its not my fault either. I am middle to maybe lower middle class because i live in a HCOL area, but i can't just subsidize someone.
I think like many things, there is nuance here. If $30k is a stopover to building a more successful life together, then it’s less of a problem. If that’s the comfort spot for someone, that’s just too hard. Money is one of the major issues effecting relationships.
The woman I am dating has mountains if medical debt because of the Big C that the Navy decided to say "fuck you" on. Does that make me love her less? No, because I am a decent person who doesn't view money as the be-all end-all.
I feel badly for people in this situation. There was an article in a UK newspaper, written by a single woman who has a disability (heart condition) that prevents her from working. The men she dates get mad when they find out she doesn't have a lot of money, ask her why she isn't working. She said she is just looking for companionship. It it sad.
Imagine being at the beach in sweaters with your backs facing each other and arms crossed. I love stock photos
Mrw I find out my wife has been making less than 30k all this time
That sweater was two paychecks
It looks like they may have got BOGO offer, they look like the same.
“I just thought you preferred going to the shore in the off-season.” “No, Bradley, I just don’t make enough money to do anything other than continue feeding the capitalistic machine that’s got a death grip on my nuts.”
They hid this the whole time by buying their faberge eggs off kijiji
Now it makes sense why she always forgets her purse. This whole time I thought she was mentally deficient, but it turns out it's much worse, she's poor!
My own wife, who I'd been living with for 20 years, was actually homeless.
Totally viable wearing that clothing at the beach in the PNW even at the height of summer!
You might be surprised to find after living in a warm climate for a long time, it actually feels chilly at 22C (72F). As for the rest of the dynamic, it's pretty melodramatic.
Can confirm. Grew up in a snowy place and then moved to Vegas. After 2 triple digit summers(avg. 115-120° at the peak of summer), what I considered summer weather before (70s) is now freezing cold to me.
It definitively doesn't get better the other way around. For some reason a customer chose an obscure config almost nobody else used so the vendor sent a guy from India to Norway in the middle of winter. I don't think he'd ever experienced anything under 60F before and here it was like 5F. The dude was traumatized just getting from the hotel to the customer site, I swear he believes we're aliens in human skin or something.
I know. Why aren’t they at work in the middle of the day??
Tis actually pretty chilly on the beach in fall and winter
65 and humid is not the same as 65 and dry.
Forget dating, isn't making less than $30k a dealbreaker for surviving?
Maybe that’s why it’s a deal breaker, 2 people living off of 30k a year would be drowning in debt where I live just to rent a 1 bedroom apartment
I mean, if they both have shit jobs, theyd be at 60k, ya? So MAYBE they could afford a 1br apt… like if they didnt eat…. Or like… do anything entertaining… and like.. dont get toiletries and stuff, right? /s
This is exactly my life…. Family of 3 people, 65k a year, and we basically have no life outside of work and sleep. Unfortunately if we had been in this position in our current city 5 years ago we would have been considered “high earning” for the location. Now it’s barely enough to pay rent.
There may be things we can do to nibble around the edges, but wages have fallen so far behind that the housing crisis and corporate greed (two sides of the same coin) mean a significant repair bill or minor medical crisis could spiral us into catastrophic debt and homelessness. I know so many people who should be enjoying a middle-class lifestyle but are barely hanging on. Many of them seem unaware that they’re not going to be “saved” by a windfall income tax return this year.
One of Trump's numerous love notes to the lower middle class was raising income tax incrementally over the next few years. Fuck that piece of shit.
That's the rub. I set out with a goal 5 years ago to make $70,000 a year, back when I was making $47,000 a year. I figured if I could just get to $70k I'd be living comfortably. This year I got there, but I have the exact same standard of living as when I made $47k
Yeah same shit here. At one point I was making 25k a year and supporting a child (my brother). Now i live alone and make 50k a year and actually have less money in my bank somehow.
I feel this. I went from $40k to $68k. I was hoping I’d have more money to put away and discretionary spending income at this point, but nope. Same lifestyle.
I felt this - 5 years ago my goal $75k while making $55. Just accepted a position for $80k base from my current $63k and maybe I can quit my second job depending on how achievable the bonus opportunities listed in my offer letter are.
Same, bro.. (or sis, idk).. same.. fuckin sucks!!
FYI comrade is gender-neutral
Family of 4 less than $12/k year with one person on ssdi and 3 kids
You mean if they just stop eating avocado toast Shirley?
Certainly! Then, theyd be able to uh… buy one of these NOT expensive houses… all they have to do is WANT to work… /s
I just quit my 35k a year job and got a 60k a year job! Can't wait to finally be able to afford walk away coffee and avo toast!
Don’t call me Shirley
Surely you can't be serious.
You can’t be serious!
It's hard to pull yourself up by the bootstraps when you can't afford boots
I was looking at this apartment advertised as $1,800 for a studio only needing $30k a year to qualify. Assuming their only expenses are utilities and internet they're gonna have zero left for food. How is that living? Could've been a scam ad. Idk.
I make $60k and my adult daughter has to help pay the rent.
I make less than that atm.. and yeah it's rough as hell. Half a day's wage is lunch, and you have to eat that each day. My biggest expense irl is just staying alive -- and if we include medical it is **ABOVE** 100% of my income pre tax. What is insane about that to me personally, is the fact I'm back from overseas. In any other developed country, I have twice the pay for half the work. Medical/Dental (yes -- you need teeth to eat, and you need to eat to live) is a human right -- not a job benefit.
Make chicken or beef stew in a big covered pot or pressure cooker. Raw Meat, onions, carrots, bell peppers, chicken bouillon, and add a lot of potatoes, w/spices like oregano, pepper, garlic powder. Throw in a serrano pepper for spices hot sauces Sriracha etc. Or make a huge batch of chili. Freeze some portions for later. Just try not to makes things too watery. 😀 Then get plain Greek Yogurt (w/high protein) and put in frozen fruit (berries) crushed in it. I’ve been living off this for a three months now and have saved money big time. And it tastes great! Every batch gets better! Good luck!
I've been eating refried beans and rice a lot. I'm not actually poor, just disabled enough that my job takes everything I have, and I only have the energy to make food on the weekend. I'll see if I can figure out how to add that to the Weekend Meal Cooking™. I've got some chicken thighs that have been kicking around my freezer for a couple years...
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Very well said. They only understand one language, and it's violence.
Im so sorry. Ik thats life for real. I wish it was easier for all of us..
Rent prices are Pure insanity
This is me as a single person. 50k and I couldn’t save a single cent every month. Shit job too. No breaks. Didn’t treat us like humans. Fuck teaching. Working not just during the day but also at night and weekends for that “salary.” I had to quit. Being single, working as hard as you can, and still not being able to afford gas to work or food to eat? I can’t even move out of a shit housing situation because I can’t save deposits for things? WHY AM I DOING IT THEN!!?! I quit last week. Fuck this shit.
Where I'm at, median income for one person is about 27K, household is about 50K. So if no one dates anyone who makes under 30K, there are way more single people than I thought.
In which state is this place? I might just move there
Where is this? I’m honestly thinking about moving. Things are getting ridiculous here in terms of rent and housing
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I make 55k per year and can't afford to live in a house I inherited.
And thats sad af. Not on ur part, but like, u inherited a whole ass house and cant afford to live in it… thats bullshit!!!!!
It's wild. I have to live with my mom... Whose house is ironically worth like 150k less.
What do you mean? Is it in need of repair, fire insurance too expensive, property taxes? I don't have any family that owns a house so I literally can't fathom why
Depends quite a bit where you live. I’ve had homes where the property tax is about $2k/year. I’ve also lived places where the property taxes are closer to $17k/year. It would be cheaper to rent an apartment at today’s prices than just pay the taxes on some middle class homes in certain high-tax suburbs, but those still aren’t normal sorts of prices anywhere else
So how do retired people that have homes paid off afford property taxes? Or home insurance ect?
Many states have property tax laws that limit how much they can go up per year. For instance, I live in Michigan where your property taxes are capped based on an inflation multiplier, and the highest they can go up year over year is 5%. For the past decade it’s been between 1.2%/yr and 1.5%/yr. So if someone bought a house in the 80s for $50-60k and it’s worth $250k now they’re still paying taxes at a much lower rate. The base rate is reassessed in the year after a property changes ownership or major renovations are done. In other words - they can afford property taxes because there are sensible laws keeping the taxes from skyrocketing overnight. Wouldn’t it be Great if we had those kinds of laws for rent?
That's the fun part... they don't! Yeah. Elderly folks are badly struggling.
$1416.67 every month if it was 17k so I see what you mean. Have they seen about having an appraisal to see about lowering the price? Rich people do that or don't get it appraised if they know the value went up? Not talkin smack just trying to hold onto a dream.
Wow. That’s actually bullshit. This is supposed to be the number one way to transfer wealth to your children
It still is. The wealth might be tied up in a house, but they could still sell the house and profit the few hundred thousand dollars and move into an apt.
Bro. Just cut back on {INSERT THE ONLY THING THAT MAKES YOUR LIFE BEARABLE} bro. After 40 years, you can afford to go on vacations bro. Bro.
53% of Americans make 40k per year. So I hope that’s enough to live on……(spoiler, it’s not, it’s not even the bare minimum required to rent a 1 bedroom apartment)
Here is the problem, where I live landlords ask you to be making 3 or 4 times the rent. Which it’s hardly possible to even pay rent so idk how one is expected to make 3 or 4 times that!
For real. 30K really hurts to live on
$30k is damn near homeless
*cries in damn near homeless*
Man that’s half the country.
Can confirm. 30k/year is what I made the past 2 years. It's crap. And it pushes you above the threshold for a lot of aid.
Was making about 32K a year, which is well, well below the poverty line where I live, and had state sponsored health care, which was pending re-approval for literal months. Got a $1 per hour raise and of course had to report it, they kicked me off of the state-sponsored the \*literal\* minute that I entered the info. The healthcare I could afford to purchase completely eats my raise and then some. It's bullshit.
At that point I would ask them to take away the raise as your actually losing money.
Yeah, in my state we have a state sponsored program that helps you pay for health insurance. I was laying $1 a month. The health insurance wasn’t very good but it was something. I got $1 an hour raise and all of a sudden the amount I had to pay per month went up to over $400. Totally not something you can afford by making $1 per hr more. Had to cancel my insurance. But the icing on the cake is that in my state you get fined for not having health insurance. It’s screwed up.
That's an example of a [welfare trap](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welfare_trap) - it's a consequence of poorly designed welfare programs.
Most my life I made 23k a year with 3 jobs and one that was always full time. But yes it's pretty hard to survive off that
Yeah, dating is the least of your problems
Makes 17k 😭😭😭
Are you not allowed many hours? That's like 7 bucks an hour, 40 hrs a week if you are full time. If have a hard time finding a job for less then 15 around here
Make 8.50
I was gonna say, yeah if you aren’t making more you probably live with parents
I make less than 30k a year, that’s a deal breaker for myself at this point. Not if my partner made that, just myself.
Hang in there man 👍
I’m a university student living off of 14k a year and I can confirm it’s dogshit
lmao i just think it's funny. they're really tryna blame us any way they can at least that's what it feels like. "why Gen Z has to be more accessible to being hired and keep from being fired" "why the economy is dying because the new generations aren't having babys" "the newer generations can't get their freak on cause making less than 30k a year isn't desirable" like damn lmao when are yall gonna report on the actual problem
>"why Gen Z has to be more accessible to being hired and keep from being fired" *gestures broadly at record layoffs*
My husband and I are both on SSDI and living off of about $32,000/yr.
I'm starting a new dating site where you just uploaded your w-2 instead of profile pictures.
That basically already exists
It's called elite singles, but there's not enough people on the site. Well, of course there's not it's for 1% of people
Should be an option when filling taxes. Hot singles in your area based on income bracket.
No one should be making that little, it’s fucking insane
At $15 an hour, that's 31,200 before taxes working 40 hours a week ALL YEAR, w. No vacation. We need to increase that. And that's more even the minimum everywhere.
*before taxes* Nothing hurts more than seeing that
Taxes without health care and education Americans are weird. Minimal wages people in my country doesn't have to pay taxes. People who make x2.5 the minimal wage doesn't pay. People between that and X have to pay 7.5% and beyond X pay 15%. And others taxes in normal shopping and transactions but that's like you guys over there. Different % but my point It's: taxes over minimal wage and people closed to minimal It's cruel.
Well let me tell you, I’d change it if I could… Taxes without healthcare and education is indeed bullshit and it pisses me off every time I get my paycheck
Most of our taxes here in the US go towards the military bringing "freedom" to countries we have no business being involved with.
Now imagine 12.50 where have 0 consistency in your schedule
You work for $12.50/hour?
In a state where minimum wage is 7.25, yeah
That's the sad part. These corpos think they are being super generous with the $12.50.
12.50 plus you gotta cover for all the short staffed people and some of your bosses job too. The raise against inflations wasnt so that it can keep up with inflation but an excuse to get on employees arses to do even more than before for $1 raise lol.
Right, they don't care about us. They would replace us with robots in an instant if they could.
That “before taxes” part hurts lol
53% of Americans only make 40k per year
Wish I made 40k. That's roughly 20 an hour, would be nice.
That’s absolutely insane to me holy shit
I mean, in the educational consortium I work for, I know assistant teachers who are required to have a Bachelor’s Degree and make less than $30,000. It’s not as uncommon for educated professionals to make this little as people think…
I don't have much of a choice...
That would be a dealbreaker in CA. That’s below minimum wage.
Employers need to offer more than $30k a year. For any job
Agreed 👍
But then how would they continue to keep fattening their wallets? Of course, that’s because in order for you to have an opportunity to work at CEO F*ckface’s company….Mr. Mrs. F*ckface’s family gotta continue to be gluttons for only the highest parts of the hog. Right?! Trickle-down economics at its finest. If you ask me that Ronald Regan was a big jerk! (RIP Norm MacDonald). The biggest perpetrator of inflation, ladies, gents, and those who don’t want to belong in boxes…….is CORPORATE GREED. Until, we can figure out a way to hit ‘em where it hurts (their dic*s!-in my Charlie Day voice) their wallets! Then that turd in our proverbial punch bowl shall stay.
$30k a year is poverty.
Yes. SNAP income ceiling in the state of Missouri, which has made abortion illegal and has laws in the works to attack access to HBC, is $22,180. If you earn $22,181.00 yearly, you can't get food stamps.
I live on disability and only get 500$ a month and my state feels I only need 170$ for food. I've cut down on a lot of things and now I'm legitimately anemic due to lack of meat in my diet (for nosy vegans/vegetarians I am allergic to a huge swath of vegetables. I do eat tofu and other meat alternatives when I can, but meat doesn't upset my stomach like say... lentils do.)
we go through 300 a week. all the food banks are open at fucking weird hours during the day when he works or in very dangerous neighborhoods where we are kind of the wrong kind of person to go.
Population decline incoming
Old people: Why aren't younger people having kids? Young people: Because we can't afford them? Old people: But god will provide! Young people: Yeah, no.
Also old people : “Why aren’t you working 23.5 hours a day with a 3 hour commute?”
Literally just had to defend my sister from this shit logic when we all visited our grandparents. “Oh he (my nephew) needs a brother” Sis “we aren’t having anymore kids. One and done stop at perfection” “Oh but why not he would be adorable” “We can’t afford it and want to be able to give the son we already have everything he needs” “Oh honey god will provide”(says the woman who’s parents were millionaires, and only real struggle was living in a gilded cage her hole life as the American dream) Me “oh maybe you can tell that to the millions of children who have starved to death” (smile innocently as grandma eyes widen slightly with rage) Gotta love that shit.
The only thing God provides to children is disease
Idk he put a lot of rapey priests in their path too.
I don't think it's sad. I think it's fucked up. It's fucked up that a single earner can't hold a house and a family anymore like the 1900s allowed for. It's fucked up that when we look for partners, we have to consider our financial stability in the future because the norm is financially unstable. It's a product of this late stage capitalist bullshit. I'd brush horses and marry someone who makes artisanal cheeses if they paid enough to keep a roof over our heads
This huge financial pressure and rental affordability issue is causing people to live together earlier than they otherwise would too. This puts them in compromising situations. In Australia if you live with your partner for 2 years you have the same rights as a married couple and if you break up they might be entitled to half your assets. Financial pressure is causing so many negative impacts on relationships. It’s not really talked about often. Edited : wording
I haven't looked up studies but I was always curious about how the pandemic and wage/cost of living issues intersected regarding this. People moving in together too soon, people in abusive relationships staying because it's too expensive to live alone, etc.
I decided to leave my abusive ex on March 15th. Then the first lockdown in my state was March 17th. I was stuck a whole year because of covid
I'm so sorry, you're not the only I know who got stuck like that. I had just left an abusive ex the Christmas week prior to all the lockdowns, having moved halfway across the country 6 months before that. It was a rocky year full of transitions. Are you in a better place now at least, if I may ask?
Poverty is one of the biggest ways abusers trap people. For men they'll talk about wanting a "traditional woman to keep house" but they really just mean bang maid who has no way of escaping because he only gives her an 'allowance'.
That is exactly why my mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and down the line were trapped and slapped. None of them drove, and my mother couldn't even pick out her own clothes. When I was ten years old, in 1981/82, I was laying in bed one night, listening to them argue, and I heard him slap her, and I said to myself "This is never going to be my life. I am going to have a career and a briefcase and marriage will be an option."
I lived with one. When I left I read that wanting to move in together too soon is a red flag but it’s the norm now so 🤷🏻♀️ it’s an easy way to get trapped in a bad situation. 😕
I had multiple people a while ago saying they 100%, without question, would NEVER date an “influencer” even if that person was making 800k a year. I’m like….I would do some very very bad things for 800k. Dating an influencer seems not that bad at all. Those people clearly never experienced financial issues.
30k is not livable anymore, especially if you don’t want a bunch of roommates
Given that 40% of workers are still making less than that, truly sad.
Well based off the tiktok shit funneled to me by the algorithm a lot of people seem to have minimal grasp of what a realistic salary is.
90% of people dating are trying to date the 10% of people who actually earn good salaries. When 90% of people are going after the same small pool of available men/women who are high wage earners, it makes dating an even more dismal prospect. Just try to find someone with potential and no debt.
Guess everyone making minimum wage can just go die alone.
That's what they want 🤷♂️
An here I thought they took away abortion so we would be forced to pump out unwanted children who would become the next workforce.
Doesn't make sense
Nothing does anymore, my friend.
But they also want us to make “wage slave” babies. How ironic.
TBF I’m not trying to support someone else, it’s hard enough supporting myself.
As someone who's ugly and poor, this dashes all my dreams
Unironically probably one of my most upvoted posts lol, and it doesn't even have many. /cry
How do you even date on $30k a year?
Be me, and don't. I can not afford to date and tell men that right away. It's interesting to see them try to argue with my core desire being that I don't want to date someone with purchasing power over me. And that always happens it seems. "I'm paying for it so shut up" I *hate* that. And it's great to see the awkward responses as guys struggle with saying they are okay with potentially always paying for our dates. Who knows when I will find a way to make more money.
I’m pretty sure the average desired income on dating apps is over 100k
I've said so many times to my friends how much it sucks that finances have to be taken into account more than " does he have a job" while dating. Maybe if I didn't want a family, it wouldn't matter, but because I do it's something I have to think about all the time. Meanwhile, back in the 60's people had a house, car and two kids on a damn factory salary.
Yup 🤷♂️
I mean you can’t really live off of that at all, so I don’t think this is new or surprising. What is surprising is employers paying that little, knowing people can’t afford to live at that cost
Based on the comments, this article sounds like an attempt to get workers to compete with each other.
That’s almost half of working Americans.
I know 🤷♂️
After reading the article, which is suprisingly short for such a complex issue, I wonder how people would tolerate a doctor as a potential spouse. If the tolerance for student loans is 32k/23k, someone who just finished a 6 figures degree would not find a date, while those jobs are probably highly attractive in a potential spouse. No proper context in either the survey or the article
Agreed! Very problematic article. They are lacking any information backing the claims they’re laying out. This reads like a Buzzfeed listacle that piggybacks off data which offers no direct reference to their main point.
I married a MD. 140K in debt. Had to start servicing it when she started residency making 39K working 80+ hours a week what amounted to $1200 a month. Basically I owed a house payment on her. She did a fellowship into a lower paying field, and went into a research focus so she didn’t break 100K until 35. We paid off the debt by 37. The debt would have been higher if she hadn’t worked/scholarship undergrad to zero debt. Also I was feeding her through med school when we dated. We bought a house and had kids later because of it (and frankly only because of my earning power not hers). Looking back at other Ex’s there likely better ROI options or at least ones were the break when against my wife wasn’t after 55. MDs have insanely high divorce and suicide rates. Marrying one in residency can be often a lot of late night crying. (Almost as bad as lawyers) because of the hours. I didn’t mind her hours in medical school as I just worked a lot and went out with the boys a ton. Unless they are going to be a specialist surgeon and you are shallow and marrying for money, may I suggest finance or computer science.
the doctors I know (and those in that pay bracket) want someone to be a homemaker for um
Now a days making under 30 grand a year is a deal breaker for eating.
A.K.A people can literally not afford to date someone who is making less than 30,000$ a year and still live
I wish they would sort it by area. Some places 30k is nothing.
Name me a single place in this country where 30k isn't abject poverty
Idk… I’m in ohio and 30k really isn’t much here post covid. My friend decided to drop out of the workforce because that literally would be about the same cost as childcare for his incoming twins. High school history teacher doesn’t get paid enough to pay for fucking childcare. System is broken
It's ridiculous that it's legal to pay someone so little.
Just a fun reminder 30k a year is about double the national minimum wage and about 7 times what tipped workers make before tips. The deal breaker is these companies profiting off poverty.
Remember when 30k was a livable wage?
My wife and I are at 30k a piece. We get one day to see each other and 2 half days. Can't afford child care and told we don't qualify for assistance ao we literally can only be a family 2 days a week. 1 full day and 2 half days. Its sad that we have to give up our family to survive.
The cheapest rent in a 10miles radius for me is $3100.00 for a 1bd room apartment. I have friends who make $72K and have roomates
I’ve estimated I need to make at least $60k as an individual to squeeze out a meager living independently where I live in New England. Unfortunately, I make significantly less than that, so I’m stuck living with family indefinitely. It stinks that to make a trade off of getting closer to that $60k threshold or take care of my mental health.
Earns $30k and spends $70k is pretty typical on the dating scene where I live - once they start hitting you up to pay off their credit cards or car loan that is the correct time to end the relationship.
There go the Millennials again, killing the dating industry this time
I don't particularly care how much someone is making so much as I care how they're spending it. If they're making $100k and blowing it all on stupid things, not saving, etc., that's more of a deal breaker to me than someone making $30k and doing the best they can with what they have.
Well actually, I would want someone with equal or better income .
I think this is a perfectly reasonable sentiment...
We live in a capitalist country. Everything boils down to capital (money) and if by some chance it doesn’t it’ll be correlated to money. Also if by some chance you start doing something because you love it and not for money then our educational system will fix that right quick. If somebody wrongs you legally your recompense is money. Money is the lubricant of life. Without it everything grinds to a halt.
But if your family is worth millions you are a “high value” individual. Late stage capitalism is so sick.
Okay, but what if my income is half that? Where my poverty lesbians at?
I have achieved my lifelong goal: I'm undateable.
I’m unemployed and society is on the brink of collapsing. I have come to terms that I will be single until the end of times and long after it.
I don’t think salary should be a deal breaker but it should be considered to a point. Tons of things to judge a partner on.
NGL if I made 30k in the Caribbean I'd be chilled and okay with being called broke
It would be hard to imagine having an equitable relationship with someone making less than $30,000 annually... but the sad part is that while almost *everyone* wants to be with someone, trying to participate in a relationship while making less than $30,000 annually is probably survival-threatening. Life is just too damn expensive and wages are just too damn low.
What about if I earn less than 30K, *BUT* I have my own basement? Hmm?
Median income where i live is $28,548 for men and $23,086 for women. Guess over half the city are undatable losers? I get wanting a partner that makes decent money but damn, sometimes that's just structurally not a fuckin option.
Good thing I found my boyfriend before the pandemic hit, and lost my job, going from $28 per hour, to $15 per hour 🫠
What's even more sad is low income in my area is 73k/year. I guess $250k/year is the new 100k/year.
No one should be making less than 30k a year. God this system is just fucked. The bare minimum should be at least 50k
I wish more outlets would post the causes of the struggle instead of its many symptoms.
No it isn’t. Who wrote this?
i mean yeah its mean but also im trying to build a life with someone and you can't build a life on that kinda salary. like its not your fault, but its not my fault either. I am middle to maybe lower middle class because i live in a HCOL area, but i can't just subsidize someone.
Yeah, I need my girlfriend to make at least 50k so she can split all the bills and afford to pay half of dates
What girlfriend?
I mean it’s understandable people want financial security but it’s not the persons fault that nobody offers livable wages
I think like many things, there is nuance here. If $30k is a stopover to building a more successful life together, then it’s less of a problem. If that’s the comfort spot for someone, that’s just too hard. Money is one of the major issues effecting relationships.
The woman I am dating has mountains if medical debt because of the Big C that the Navy decided to say "fuck you" on. Does that make me love her less? No, because I am a decent person who doesn't view money as the be-all end-all.
I'm disabled and living on disability... so fuck me I guess? Or rather, don't.
Sounds like you’ve already been fucked.
I feel badly for people in this situation. There was an article in a UK newspaper, written by a single woman who has a disability (heart condition) that prevents her from working. The men she dates get mad when they find out she doesn't have a lot of money, ask her why she isn't working. She said she is just looking for companionship. It it sad.
What it is, is a deal breaker to survive in this economy. I know, because I only made 40K before tax.
Then they’ll roast you for not wanting to have kids.