In the US, the poverty level for a family of four is $26,500 in 2021.
Given that someone working 40 hours a week, 50 weeks a year, 2000 hours a year, should be earning, at least, a minimum, LIVING, wage, then a minimum hourly wage of $13.25 is justified. I suggest that this should be considered a minimum living wage for an individual-nationally. *
Now there is another factor to consider, location. HUD has a extremely-low-income category that it tracks.** Basically, it is 30% of the median income of a Metropolitan Area. (don’t forget, median means that half of the families in the area make more than the median and half make less)
Again, we will use the “family of four” as our baseline. In my home county of El Paso, Colorado, the Median Family income is $81,600. 30% of that is $24,500 (rounded to the nearest 100). Divide by 2000 hours, that would create a Minimum wage of $12.25. Since the National Minimum is higher, the higher one applies. Any Metro area with an median family income of less than $90,000 will use the national minimum wage. (rounding results to nearest $.25)
| Metro Area | Median Family Inc | Minimum Wage |
| New York City | $78,700 | National Minimum |
| San Francisco | $143,100 | $21.50 |
| Boston | $119,000 | $18.00 |
| DC Metro | $121,000 | $19.00 |
| Chicago | $91,000 | $13.50 |
| Seattle | $113,300 | $17.00 |
| Los Angeles | $77,300 | National Minimum |
Rather than going with a flat $15 an hour minimum wage that is being bandied about, I propose this model as one that will change as the local economy changes, growing as needed, rather than waiting for Congress do to anything. The current annual wage of a Congressman is $174,000, ~6.6 times the Poverty Level we are basing our minimum wage on. Why don’t we keep that ratio in place and tie the Congressional wages to 6.6 times the national poverty level for a family of four?
*note this applies to the lower 48 states. Alaska and Hawaii have higher baseline poverty levels.
** The FY 2014 Consolidated Appropriations Act changed the definition of extremely low-income to be the greater of 30/50ths (60 percent) of the Section 8 very low-income limit or the poverty guideline as established by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), provided that this amount is not greater than the Section 8 50% very low-income limit. Consequently, the extremely low income limits may equal the very low (50%) income limits.