Methodology

Core Formula

Br = Hr + Fr + Tr + Ir + Ur + Mr + Xr

Wmin,r = Br(1 + s + k) / H

Where Br is regional monthly baseline cost, s is savings rate, k is retirement rate, and H is annual hours worked.

Standard Assumptions

Default profile is one adult, 40 hours per week, 2,080 annual hours, 10% savings, and 10% retirement allocation.

Cost components include housing, food, transportation, healthcare, utilities, internet/phone, taxes, and misc essentials.

Calculation Consistency

ZIP, city, and state values are derived from the same centralized wage engine to prevent logic drift across page types.

When a ZIP is refreshed, dependent aggregates are recalculated to keep city/state comparisons aligned.

Known Limitations

Some ZIP outputs are currently model-estimate rows while official-source ingestion is rolling out. Each result includes its source mode for transparency.

Published-dataset coverage and refresh cadence are documented at /data-sources.