A $15-an-Hour Minimum Wage Is No Longer Sufficient

$30,000 a year. Or, put another way, $2,600 a month — that’s how much $15 an hour amounts to before taxes. A recent cost-of-living study put out by Missouri Economic Research and Information Center (MERIC) examined what families pay for standard necessities, such as groceries, housing, utilities, transportation and health. It showed that Maryland is the seventh most expensive state in the nation, and our housing costs sit 64% above the national average. Though MERIC’s study did not account for other common out-of-pocket costs, like student debt or child care, they are worth noting.