General

The U.S. has such crap minimum wage. In Canada it's $10.50 and I know people who live off that, I don't know if $7.50 in the states is doable or not but obviously it is since there are people doing it.

@modsaredumb I guess average people is what makes this city such a great place. Can't be having only rich people living here, they're no fun ;P But ya, I get ya!

But like dorks said, I do know that you can rent in SF for less than $1000 a month if you share a room with someone. Gonna be pretty darn cramped tho!

@dorks Haha a shared room is very very hard unless you and that person are on very good terms. Daly City seems to be the alternative now for people who want to work in SF, and are smart enough to save on the rent. Jobs here are easier to get, seems like all I see nowadays are ads looking for baristas and waiters for higher haha.

As previously mentioned, it's all about where you're living. I currently reside near Bel-Air / Beverly Hills in California, and a studio is about 700$ - 1K$ per person, per month, in a 3-4 person split. Granted, if you're in a location where real-estate isn't as expensive, I believe it'd still be pretty rough. Personally, I'd find a few other people and perhaps rent a studio. There may be single rooms, so you could offer to pay a bit extra to take the single. Good luck.

@steph: yeah sf rent is crazy. i just moved back into the bay area and even daly city is easily 700+ for a shared room...no bueno. luckily i'm living with my sister on heavily discounted rent until i get an actual job in my field.
also this is assuming you can even GET the hours from the min wage job. where i work, i'm lucky if i get 25+ a week. it's mainly managers who are 40+ and most of them are well beyond min wage.
i honestly don't know how ppl do it.

@steph: It still baffles me why average people stay in SF. People always try getting me to move out there with them. Eff that, I'm just fine in my little okie-farmboy town in the valley.

Unless you're in an expensive area, it's do-able, but not practical. You'll be living paycheck to paycheck unless you are extremely low maintenance and have/don't mind low standards. Not gonna impress any women/guys with Cheerios, PB&J Sandwiches, and frozen vegetables.

umm hell no

you'd have to completely change your lifestyle and conserve on EVERYTHING

It can be done if you buy a cheap mobile home.

In San Francisco minimum wage is $13. Rent is over $3000 a month here. It's very hard to live on your own unless you have someone, or a couple people sharing the rent with you. My family spends over $4000 a month here on mortgage and utilities.

I live in Brazil. Here, the min. wage is ~900.00 BRL(Brazil currency) per month. Most of the house rentals are like ~1,000.00+ BRL/month, and the houses are SOOOOO small... You need food? put more 500.00 BRL per month in the paper. A car? the most cheap and unused car is like ~25,000+ BRL. Do you want to buy a house? A "decent" one is like 500k+ BRL... Yeah, you can't even leave the house of you parents before you earn 2,500.00 BRL or more... This country is a total mess.

Maybe in certain states. But for sure in NY, I don't think approx 1,200 a month (if under the table) would get you very far. You will not find anything under $1,000 unless you gonna live in a shady area. Yearly price hikes from taking public transportation is pretty scary enough. About $120 a month for unlimited rides. And then factor in food spending/ internet/ phone bill/ water bill/gas/ electric. ..pretty much in the negatives lawl.

@tubring22: rice, potatoes, dried beans, oatmeal, frozen vegetables, bananas, etc

@tubring22: Tuna and oatmeal? Idk...

I find it pretty hard to work for $7.50 and get by on that >_< kinda sucky america's minimum wage is pretty crappy lol

@greatbolshy: How does one eat healthy for ~3 bucks a day?

tfw america's minimun wage is the dream wage here in mexico, pretty enough to join the upper middle class

Assuming you work 160 hours a month on minimum wage, you get $1200, which after taxes (NY) is around $840. If you're frugal and know what you're doing, you could probably get away with spending around $160 on food or less, which leaves you with around ~$680.

You'd have to balance that around with bills (electric, gas, internet, water, rent/mortgage, etc). It's doable, depending on location.

Its been said already but most big towns no. Around LA youll be getting about 1600 a month BEFORE taxes but the cost of living youd need to provide could very easily surpass the 1k mark so unless youre insanely smart with shopping for basic necessities itll be tough.

I did it part time minimum wage, so you should be able to do it being fulltime. It's not fun though, so I'd suggest staying with whoever you're staying with, if possible, until you either finish school or get a better paying job.

Hello no, scrounging from pay check to pay check ain't living. You're setting yourself up for one hell of a rough ride, if you're asking this question because you plan to do it.

@greatbolshy That's amazing prices. I picked up a home in Missisauga, Ontario for just over $400,000 after taxes. It's pretty nice lol but it isn't any 6bedroom home.

Depends on where you live, LA or NY no some small town yes.

it all depends on where you live. real estate where i live is cheap as hell (ohio). you won't be buying a house with those wages but renting may be possible.

$7.50/hr 40 hrs a week=$14400/yr. not gonna bother going into taxes because idk where you live.

you can get a small apartment for $300/month=$3.6k/yr. that's assuming you live in a cheap state.

cheap car that's good on gas would be great. that elio motors car is supposed to come out next year (doubt it ever will rofl) that's like $7k and does 80mpg or something. that'd be a godsend for people on a budget.

food isn't terribly expensive, but you'd be accepted for food stamps without a doubt. even if you didn't apply for them, you could still eat healthy for like 3 bucks a day.

other expenses such as bills and gas are all up to you. idk what you're like so i can't even begin to estimate those.

people always bash on ohio, but right now it's pretty god tier in terms of pricing across the usa. you can pick up a 6+ bed 6+ bath with an indoor pool, bad ass kitchen, wine cellar, lake erie beachfront property in a really good location for under a mil. normally you'd expect a house like that in a good location to be at least 2-3m. hell, an abandoned mansion was just sold for $750k a couple months ago. needed some major repairs but it's a damn nice property.

I live in Vancouver and I can definitely live off of a min. wage right now. I make $10.50/hr and work 40 hours a week. That's about 370 dollars after taxes and union fees.

370x4=$1480 per month

rent: $650/month
food: $125/month
phone: 40/month
bus: 50/month
=$865/month

I can either spend the rest or save.

Depends. If you're in New York City, definitely not.
If you're in some small town, it may be do-able if you're financially savvy enough. As stated above, you will have programs that are there to assist those who fall under such situations.

Depends where you live and what bills you have. But, it's very unlikely you'll be able to live off of $7.50 a month. There are government programs to assist people in these situations if needed.