Question

Take-Home Pay and Cost of Living
Key Terms:

Median annual wage (salary): What the average worker might make in one year, after about 20 years of experience in that career.
Annual take-home pay: What a worker earns in one year, after taxes have been deducted. For this portfolio, we will assume a 30% tax rate, meaning 70% of the annual wage is take-home pay.


For example, an MRI tech with a salary of $77,360 would expect to take home about $54,152 per year.

(Annual pay before taxes * 0.7 = amount of take-home pay.)

Question 1
If someone earns an annual salary of $70,000 and pays 30% in taxes, what would their annual take-home pay be?(1 point)
Responses

$70,000
$70,000

$49,000
$49,000

$40,000
$40,000

$21,000

iving Wage
Angel used the following page to research the "living wage" for different family situations in the state of Florida: livingwage.mit.edu/states/12

If there are children in a household, these examples assume:

If there is 1 adult working and 1 adult not working, one adult earns all the income while the other provides care for any children (no childcare expenses).
If there are 2 adults working, the "wage" is what each one of them earns. They each pay for half of the childcare expenses.
If there is only 1 adult, that adult pays childcare expenses for any children.
Question 2
If Angel earns $17.00 per hour as a home health aide, for which family situation would this be considered a living wage?(1 point)
Responses

1 adult, 0 children
1 adult, 0 children

1 adult, 2 children
1 adult, 2 children

1 adult working, 1 adult not working, 0 children
1 adult working, 1 adult not working, 0 children

2 adults working, 0 children

If Angel lives in a household with 2 working adults and 2 children, which of these salaries provides pay equal to or above a living wage?(2 points)
Responses

Home health aide: $17/ hour
Home health aide: $17/ hour

Sonographer: $38 / hour
Sonographer: $38 / hour

Physical Therapist: $48/ hour

Answers

GPT-4o mini
### Question 1
To find the annual take-home pay for someone earning $70,000 with a tax rate of 30%, we use the formula:

\[ \text{Take-home pay} = \text{Annual Salary} \times 0.7 \]

So,

\[ \text{Take-home pay} = 70,000 \times 0.7 = 49,000 \]

**Response:** $49,000

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### Question 2
Angel earns $17.00 per hour as a home health aide. To determine whether this is a living wage, we need to convert the hourly wage to an annual salary:

\[ \text{Annual Salary} = 17 \, \text{(hourly wage)} \times 40 \, \text{(hours per week)} \times 52 \, \text{(weeks per year)} \]
\[ \text{Annual Salary} = 17 \times 40 \times 52 = 35,360 \]

Now, we need to check this against the living wage for different family situations.

1. **1 adult, 0 children:** Generally, an annual salary of $35,360 is often sufficient to cover basic living expenses.
2. **1 adult, 2 children:** This would likely require a higher salary due to childcare costs.
3. **1 adult working, 1 adult not working, 0 children:** This may cover basic needs but is also on the threshold.
4. **2 adults working, 0 children:** Generally, this requires each adult to earn enough to support two households.

Given these options, the best answer is:

**Response:** 1 adult, 0 children

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To determine which of the provided salaries is equivalent to or above a living wage for a household with 2 working adults and 2 children:

- **Home health aide: $17/hour** = $35,360 (annual)
- **Sonographer: $38/hour** = $79,040 (annual)
- **Physical Therapist: $48/hour** = $99,840 (annual)

Salaries for both the **Sonographer** and **Physical Therapist** are likely to meet or exceed the living wage compared to a home health aide.

**Response:** Sonographer: $38/hour and Physical Therapist: $48/hour

If required to select one, either the Sonographer or the Physical Therapist would be good choices, as both exceed a living wage for that family situation.

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