HONOLULU (KHON2) — In the 1950s, corporate tax rates were at a historic high which allowed the United States’ prosperity to balloon. During this period, one job was usually enough to support a family.
Today, however, that is far from the truth. A new study shows that nearly eight in 10 people in the United States live paycheck to paycheck. That means most are just covering their basic bills with little left over.
Here’s what we found in the new study.
The cost of an average lifestyle
Researchers measured the hours people must work to afford an average lifestyle. They included rent, food, utilities, medical care, transportation, apparel, recreation and one domestic vacation per year.
Across the U.S., the average person needs to work 1,372 hours to keep up. That adds up to 77.7% of all working hours spent on basic living.
Rent is the biggest expense. On average, 662 hours of work each year go toward housing. Medical care takes 220 hours, and food takes about 129 hours.
Hawaiʻi tops the list
Hawaiʻi is the most expensive state in this study. Residents here must work 1,928 hours a year to afford an average lifestyle, meaning just the basics.
That means we have to work about 192 hours of overtime to achieve an average lifestyle, and the study identified that most of this burden comes from housing expenses.
A worker on the median salary range must put in more than 1,100 hours each year just to pay rent. That equals 59 percent of all working hours — just for rent.
Hawaiʻi also ranked the highest in costs for utilities, medical care and domestic vacation spending.
Other states on both ends
Idaho follows Hawaiʻi with 1,840 hours, then Mississippi with 1,628 hours. Rounding out the top five are Montana at 1,612 and Florida at 1,602 hours.
The most affordable state is North Dakota, where people need 1,042 hours. That means only 55.8 percent of working time goes toward expenses. Rent there takes about half the national average at 337 hours a year.
Connecticut, Wisconsin, South Dakota and Kansas complete the five most affordable states.
The gap between Hawaiʻi and North Dakota is wide. Someone would need to work 886 more hours in Hawaiʻi to match the same lifestyle. That equals 22 extra weeks on the job.
You can click here to read the full study.
So, as you go about your year that requires you to work more than any other state simply to afford to exist, think about the ways you can become involved in Hawaii’s political and economic debates because the cost of living isn’t just numbers on a page, it’s the story of our lives.