Report: Single parent of two needs to make $62K to raise them in R.I.

PROVIDENCE – A single parent of a baby and a child between the ages of 6 and 12 needs to make at least $62,693 a year, or $30.14 an hour, to cover basic expenses associated with raising a family in Rhode Island, according to the Economic Progress Institute.
More than a quarter of that family’s income will go toward child care, estimated at $1,446 a month, the Economic Progress Institute said.
The institute on Tuesday released its updated cost of living calculator, an interactive tool that shows how much families need to make to “enjoy a secure, yet modest standard of living in the Ocean State.”
According to information from the institute, the calculator “provides a more realistic measure of economic security than the commonly used federal poverty level, which measures economic security based on the cost of food.”
The calculator allows users to see what it costs families of different sizes to pay for housing, child care, health care, food, transportation and taxes, and then calculates the pre-tax (gross) income needed to meet expenses.
For example, a single adult without children needs to make $24,640 a year, or $11.85 an hour, to meet basic needs. That is more than the current $9 minimum wage and the $9.60 minimum wage that goes into effect in January, the institute said.

The institute also publishes a comprehensive “guide to assistance” detailing government assistance programs and community resources available to help individuals and families meet basic needs, including food assistance, tax credits and child care subsidies, which all can help lower-wage working families make ends meet.

The guide is available at the institute’s website HERE.
“We hope these tools serve to better educate the public and policymakers about the cost of living in the Ocean State and the importance of government assistance programs for the large number of Rhode Islanders working in low-wage jobs,” Kate Brewster, executive director of the Economic Progress Institute, said in a statement. “Many people often don’t realize they are eligible for help paying for basic needs like child care and food. We encourage Rhode Islanders who are struggling to pay the bills to review the guide to see if they qualify for assistance.”

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