EPI’s updated Family Budget Calculator shows how much income it takes to afford basic expenses in every U.S. county and metropolitan area in 2025. The Family Budget Calculator estimates community-specific costs—including housing, food, transportation, child care, health care, taxes, and other basic necessities—for 10 family types (one or two adults with zero to four children).

Unfortunately, many families today struggle to make ends meet because their pay hasn’t risen nearly as fast as it could have with a growing economy over the last five decades. This is a direct result of bad policy choices advancing corporate interests at the expense of typical workers. An accompanying Wage Calculator reveals how much higher workers’ pay could be if wages had kept up with productivity growth since 1979. For a worker making the median annual wage of $53,383, their wage would be $76,315 if it had risen in line with productivity gains.

San Francisco tops the list of most expensive metro areas, according to the Family Budget Calculator. A two-parent, two-child household needs an annual income of $231,305 to afford a modest yet adequate standard of living. While the median family income in San Francisco is the second highest in the country ($176,777), this still isn’t enough to pay for the basics.

Gibson County, Tennessee, is the least expensive metro area in the country. A two-parent, two-child household needs an annual income of $82,005 to afford a basic budget, but the median family income falls short at only $71,228 per year. An interactive map compares costs of living across the country.

The Family Budget Calculator can be used to assess a living-wage level and illustrates that states like Oklahoma need a higher minimum wage. But it’s not just Oklahoma—the Family Budget Calculator shows that nowhere in the country can a minimum-wage worker meet the requirements of their local family budget on their wages alone.

“The Family Budget Calculator is a stark reminder that many employers do not pay workers enough to meet their family’s basic needs. Raising wages is a critical, but often overlooked, component of solving the affordability crisis,” said EPI senior economist Elise Gould.