How the cost of living compares in California and New York
File art -- Motorists should expect various overnight lane closures on the Bay Bridge from Oct. 15 thoguh Oct. 27.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - California and New York, two states set to approve a $15 minimum wage, are among the nation's most expensive places to live.
New Yorkers need to make 40 cents more than Californians every hour to earn enough for a normal standard of living, called the living wage, according to calculations by the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
While food, housing and transportation costs are similar, child care is typically twice as expensive in New York, and a single adult pays about $600 less in state taxes every year in California.
Here's how far a living wage goes in the two states, with figures based on the annual cost of living for a single adult, unless otherwise specified, and price parities showing how much goods and services cost above the national average.
___
CALIFORNIA
Living wage: $12.35 per hour, 40 hours per week
Housing: $10,575
Food: $3,607
Transportation: $4,054
Child care (two adults, two children): $9,869
Price parity: 12.3 percent
People living below poverty level: 16.4 percent
Population: 38.8 million
___
NEW YORK
Living wage: $12.75 per hour, 40 hours per week
Housing: $11,192
Food: $3,509
Transportation: $3,764
Child care (two adults, two children): $20,250
Price parity: 15.3 percent
People living below poverty level: 15.9 percent
Population: 19.7 million
___
Sources: Cost-of-living figures from ongoing MIT study of income and expenses; price parities from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis; population and poverty figures from the U.S. Census Bureau.