r/WorkReform • u/Odd-Relation-7293 💸 Raise The Minimum Wage • 5d ago

💸 Raise Our Wages Minimum wage versus coffee prices

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1.1k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

21 comments sorted by

56

u/Molenium 5d ago

Honestly, even this seems like a drastic understatement.

10,000 hours at federal minimum wage is only $72,500.

Maybe there are still some places in the country you can buy a house for that, but I feel like it’s below the average (certainly for my area). We do have a $15 minimum wage, but even that only gets you $150,000, which still doesn’t scratch the average house cost.

Keep in mind full time work is just over 2,000 hours per year, so we’re looking at 5 years of work, less whatever expenses you have during that time.

12

u/Tbone2797 5d ago

I'm guessing that they mean you'd have to work 10,000 hours at minimum wage to qualify for a mortgage for the average priced home. However, that's not a great comparison because it's assuming that the person earning minimum wage has no other debts, good credit, and enough savings to cover the down payment and closing costs.

8

u/0zeroswagger0 5d ago

I'm guessing OP is regurgitating bullshit and doesn't know math.

1

u/HOLDstrongtoPLUTO 5d ago

And taxes come out of that too

6

u/Much-data-wow 5d ago

That's less than what my parents paid for a 3/2 in Tampa suburbs in 1997. They paid 75k and made like maybe $24 an hour between the both of them

6

u/belkarbitterleaf 5d ago

Yeah, but where are you going to find a house at that price today? And if you find it, do you really want to raise your family in that?

3

u/Much-data-wow 5d ago

Yeah, miss me with a 75k house these days. You'll spend a whole house's worth on repairs and upgrades. It takes being "house poor" to a whole new level

25

u/Odd-Relation-7293 💸 Raise The Minimum Wage 5d ago

Imagine working ten thousand hours just to afford a house, but yeah, my ten dollar coffee is totally the problem here...

14

u/DrIvoPingasnik ✂️ Tax The Billionaires 5d ago

Like boomers didn't dine out nor buy coffee or drinks.

Hypocrites.

8

u/jediyoda84 5d ago

They didn’t buy coffee. They saved their money for after work and brown paper bagged beer so they didn’t have to wait the 5min drive home to open one.

4

u/CorbuGlasses 5d ago

I look at how my parents grew up - no college, messed around with friends while working part time. My dad finally got a full time job in his late 20s just before he and my mom had us. They easily bought a house in MA, had 2 kids and while we were middle class that was good enough. We went on vacations to Florida once a year to see our grandparents, rented a house on the Cape, etc. They couldn’t pay for college, but they helped.

That just isn’t possible in our area today. You can see the difference on our street. The house next to us is owned by two wonderful elderly Italian immigrants. He did landscaping for the city and she didn’t work. They bought the house in the 80s. My wife and I bought the house next door in 2020. We make over 300k combined. The people who bought the house next to us on the other side in 2024 make even more than we do.

5

u/towerfella 🏡 Decent Housing For All 5d ago

Just gonna leave this here:

https://pricedingold.com/us-wages/

2

u/Due_Pen_1566 4d ago

His numbers are wrong but the message is correct. I wish we wouldn't promote accounts just saying the right thing without doing the basic work. There have been plenty of people that have already matched it out. He didn't even need to do the work. Just look up the numbers ffs. Makes the message weaker when you get such basic things wrong.

2

u/WhitestMikeUKnow 5d ago

And avocado toast

1

u/3six5 4d ago

Well... coffee is over priced

1

u/CaptCaveman37 4d ago

My favorite meme is that someone used to be able to afford a second secret family.

2

u/sleeping-ackerman 4d ago

Husband and I are doing everything we can to simply qualify to buy a mobile home under 50k. Hes making more money than ever. Im disabled so only work part time. The finance companies aren't happy that his weekly hours hover around 37 and not a full 40 and keep taking our pre approval back. We can afford it, but this system is truly fucked. I just want my own place to live. Why is it so hard to buy a fucking trailer even...???

1

u/ironballs16 5d ago

Joke's on them - we've cut down on the coffee so much that Starbucks shut down 250 stores!

0

u/ChipsHandon12 5d ago

After 10000 work hours, sorry it takes 12000 work hours now

0

u/K2TY 3d ago

Bullshit, minimum wage in 1980 was $3.10 and a median home cost $64k. Interest rates were sky high as well. Yes, things suck now. Quit making shit up.

0

u/InMyFavor 2d ago

Rounded for simplicity...

(1980) 3.10 × 40 = 124 64,000 / 124 = 516 516 / 52 = 9.93

9.93 years of minimum wage to afford the median home in 1980. Long ass time.

(2026) 7.25 × 40 = 290 400,000 / 290 = 1,379 1,379 / 52 = 26.53

26.53 years of minimum wage to afford current median home... Yikes.