More from the Self-Sufficiency Standard Studies

The SSS studies provide a cost of living — no frills, just the basics — for various configurations of families, by county and metropolitan area, in over 30 states.

The methodology is virtually* consistent across all the studies, which were conducted over a number of years. Once you've read one recent study, you will understand the methodology, and reading additional studies is fairly straightforward.

*exceptions: a few use a higher food cost than the USDA Low-Cost Food Plan, based on higher than average local grocery costs; Kansas (not shown here) uses a more generous assumption on children sharing bedrooms; some do not differentiate localized driving patterns within the state.

Let's look at some data. This table shows the no-frills costs of living in about 200 counties and metropolitan areas, for a family of four: two adults, a school-age child and a preschooler. There is no "fat" in these budgets — fat would include such things as debt repayment, a meal out occasionally, a babysitter outside of work hours, a second shopping expedition each week, a meal allowance more than $1.82 per person per meal (as of March 2006), provision for birthday presents.

Columns 1 though 5 list the five major spending categories; column 6, miscellaneous, is 10% of the sum of the first five columns. Columns 7 through 10 list the taxes paid and credits received. Column 11 is the sum of columns 1 through 10, and column 11 annualizes it. Column 13 compares the Self-Sufficiency Standard for that location to the Federal Poverty Guideline. Column 14 provides the population for the county of MSA (Metropolitan Statistical Area). Column 15 provides the homeownership rate, which is often far below the national average in those places where rents are highest. Column 16 provides the Federal Poverty Rate for 1999. Column 17 updates the rent figure in column 1 to 2006; where there are multiple figures shown, it represents a revision that took place during 2006 (through March). Another version of this table, with additional columns, is also available.