Study shows how much it truly takes to live in Graham County
Robbinsville – The cost of living in Graham County is lower than it is for North Carolina as a whole as well as most of the state’s 100 counties, but the fact remains that a basic living wage continues to be out of reach for many Graham County families. A living wage in Graham County is more than twice the federal minimum wage and the federal poverty level, and it would take a single parent with one child working a minimum wage job 107 hours per week to earn a living wage in Graham County.
Durham-based NC Budget & Tax Center is a non-partisan organization that works to document fiscal and economic conditions in communities to support the work of people, organizations, and government to advance solutions to poverty and pursue racial equity.
It released a study identifying a Living Income Standard in 2022 for each of the state’s 100 counties, and captures what it really takes to make ends meet.
“The Living Income Standard is not living high on the hog — it’s a basic floor for what families need to get by,” NC Budget & Tax Center said in releasing its study. “By that standard we’ve got a lot of work to do to keep working families from falling through the cracks.”
It should be noted that this study was conducted before recent spikes in prices for gas and groceries.
An annual living wage in Graham County for a family of two adults and two children is $58,150. That translates to a $28 hourly wage for a single-income family, or $14 hourly pay per adult.
The cost of living for a family of one adult and one child is $41,200, which means that that adult would have to make $19.75 per hour full-time to afford that cost.
The cost for housing ranges from $720 to $900 per month depending on the number of bedrooms, according to the study. While Graham County has some of the lowest housing costs in the state, the availability of that housing is another issue. There were two rentals listed in The Graham Star last week, and no rental listings and just four residences for sale in Zillow for $200,000 or less.
Child care costs are higher than housing, at $770 for one child. Other expenses included transportation ($450), health care ($400), food ($370), taxes ($200), and debt payment ($170). All other expenses were lumped together at $360 per month.
At minimum wage, it would take a single adult working 107 hours per week to earn a living wage in Graham County. That’s a a work day of just shy of 18 hours per day, assuming the worker gets Sundays off.
It’s the same situation in other Western North Carolina counties, including Swain, Macon and Cherokee counties.
According to the Living Income Standard, the least-expensive county in North Carolina for that family to live in is Alleghany at $52,950, while Chatham and Orange counties come in at a staggering $80,000. For a single parent to get by, very few can afford medical insurance, and fewer still can save for retirement.
The 2022 Living Income Standard has soared to new heights, according to the NC Budget & Tax Center.
“When COVID-19 arrived, few (if any) pundits predicted inflation would become one of the most fretted-over issues in 2022, but here we are,” the center said in its report. “Supply chain disruptions, pent-up demand, war in Ukraine, and myriad other factors have made it harder and harder for many working families to make ends meet. While the current moment is extraordinary, millions of North Carolina families found it hard or impossible to cover the cost of basic needs before the pandemic arrived.”