Do you earn a living wage in SLO County? Here’s how much you need in 2025
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Single adults in SLO County need $26.55 hourly to meet basic 2025 living costs.
- Two adults with two children require $140,213 annually to cover essential expenses.
- Living wage needs rose up to 11% from 2024, driven by housing and child care costs.
Does the amount of money you’re making at work add up to a living wage?
Whether you’re living paycheck to paycheck or have lots of disposable income depends on several factors, including where you live and who’s in your household.
In San Luis Obispo County, an adult living alone needs to earn about $10 more per hour than California’s minimum wage to cover the cost of basic needs, according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s a living wage calculator.
Although California companies are required to pay employees at least $16.50 an hour, some industries and cities in the state now more. Fast food workers in California earn $20 per hour or more, and some health care workers make up to $25 an hour.
A SLO County resident with no spouse or children would need to earn $26.55 an hour just to pay for necessities including food, housing, transportation and medical care.
What do households with kids or multiple adults need to earn to make ends meet?
Here’s a breakdown of what qualifies as a living wage in SLO County:
What is considered a living wage in SLO County in 2025?
MIT defined a living wage as “the hourly rate that an individual in a household must earn to support themselves and/or their family, working full-time, or 2,080 hours per year.”
Here’s how much singles, couples and families with children need to make per hour to earn a living wage in San Luis Obispo County in 2025, according to MIT’s living wage calculator:
- Single adult with no children: $26.55
- Single adult with one child: $47.79
- Single adult with two children: $62.08
- Single adult with three children: $80.98
- Two working adults with no children: $18.31
- Two working adults with one child: $26.56
- Two working adults with two children: $33.71
- Two working adults with three children: $42.06
How much does it cost to live in SLO County?
In terms of total annual wages, a single adult living alone in San Luis Obispo County needs to earn at least $55,234 a year before taxes to cover basic living expenses, according to MIT.
MIT’s calculations show a single SLO County adult’s biggest expense is housing, at approximately $17,810 per year, followed by transportation at $11,342 and food at $4,907.
A household with two working adults and two children would need to earn at least $140,213 per year to cover basic needs including food, housing, health care, child care and transportation.
According to MIT data, couples with two kids spend the most on child care: $28,736 per year.
These couples spend $25,980 on housing and $19,025 on transportation each year, MIT data shows
Have living wages increased in California in 2025?
Nationwide, consumer prices increased by 2.7% and food prices went up by 2.9% over the past 12 months, as of the end of July, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Living wages have increased across California since February 2024, according to MIT’s living wage calculator. Single adults without children need to earn $1.40 more per hour — about a 5% increase from 2024 — to keep up with basic costs, The Sacramento Bee previously reported.
in California, couples with no children need to make nearly 6% more, or $2.18, compared to the previous year.
Single parents with two children need to earn $2.59 more per hour — or about 4% more. Couples with two children also saw living wages rise by 4% in 2024, or $2.05 more.
The biggest living wage increase was for working couples with three children. These families must now earn 11% more —or $5.96 more per hour — to afford necessities.
How does MIT calculate living wages in the US?
MIT developed the living wage calculator in 2003 to estimate the employment earnings that a full-time worker must make to cover or support the costs of their family’s basic needs where they live.
The calculator features geographically-specific costs for food, child care, health care, housing, transportation and other basic needs as well as taxes at the county, metropolitan area and state levels for 12 different family types. MIT said it looked at living wage estimates for a total of 3,143 counties to “account for the geographic variation in costs” across the United States, as well as 384 metropolitan statistical areas and 50 states plus Washington, D.C.
Data came from sources including the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Department of Agriculture and Department of Housing and Urban Development.
MIT said the living wage calculator was last updated on Feb. 10.
