Use the table to answer the question.

Question

Items Cost
food and groceries $637.08
child care $701.25
medical $725.58
housing $1,324.17
transportation $1,059.03
monthly taxes $872.75
other basic necessities $512.50
The table shows the monthly basic needs budget for a 1-child family with 2 working adults in Fort Worth, Texas.

What should be the average of living wages of both adults so they can support their family’s basic needs? Assume both parents work full-time (40 hours per week). Round to the nearest hundredth.

Answer 1

To find the average living wages of both adults that will support their family’s basic needs, we first need to determine the total monthly expenses from the provided budget.

1. Calculate total monthly expenses:

• Food and groceries: $637.08
• Child care: $701.25
• Medical: $725.58
• Housing: $1,324.17
• Transportation: $1,059.03
• Monthly taxes: $872.75
• Other basic necessities: $512.50

Now, let's add these values together:

\[ 637.08 + 701.25 + 725.58 + 1324.17 + 1059.03 + 872.75 + 512.50 = 5062.36 \]

So, the total monthly expenses are $5062.36.

2. Determine the total hours worked in a month:

Since both parents work full-time, we can calculate the total hours worked by both in a month:

• Full-time hours per week: 40 hours
• Number of weeks in a month: Approximately 4.33 weeks (52 weeks/year divided by 12 months)

Total hours worked per parent in a month: \[ 40 \text{ hours/week} \times 4.33 \text{ weeks/month} ≈ 173.2 \text{ hours/month} \]

Total hours worked by both parents in a month: \[ 173.2 \text{ hours/month} \times 2 \text{ parents} ≈ 346.4 \text{ hours/month} \]

3. Calculate the necessary hourly wage:

To find the hourly wage required to meet the total monthly expenses, we divide the total monthly expenses by the total hours worked by both parents:

\[ \text{Hourly wage} = \frac{\text{Total Monthly Expenses}}{\text{Total Hours Worked}} \]

Calculating this gives:

\[ \text{Hourly wage} = \frac{5062.36}{346.4} ≈ 14.6 \]

4. Determine the average living wage per adult:

Since there are two adults, we need to find the average hourly wage per adult:

\[ \text{Average living wage per adult} = 14.60 \text{ (per hour)} \]

Finally, to find the total average wage per adult per month, we multiply the hourly wage by the average number of working hours per month per adult:

\[ \text{Average living wage per adult per month} = 14.60 \times 173.2 ≈ 2537.18 \text{ (rounded to the nearest hundredth)} \]

Therefore, the average living wage of both adults that would support their family’s basic needs, rounded to the nearest hundredth, is $2537.18.