It took more than $25 per hour to make a living wage in South Florida in 2026, according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's living wage calculator.
A living wage is the hourly rate that someone in a household has to earn to "support themselves and/or their family, working full-time or 2,080 hours per year," according to the living wage calculator. The full methodology regarding how living wages are estimated is available on the calculator's website, and the data was last updated on Feb. 15.
Though the statewide minimum wage is now $15 per hour, a living wage in the Miami-Fort-Lauderdale-West Palm Beach metro area was $25.86 per hour for one adult with no children. For an adult with one child, the living wage jumped up to $42.73, to $53.66
for one adult with two children and to $67.08 for one adult with three children.
In Miami-Dade County at large, a living wage for one adult with no children was $25.98 per hour, $42.27 per hour for someone with one child, $52.07 for someone with two children and $64.92 for a lone adult with three children.
Statewide, the living wage for an adult with no children was $24.09 per hour.
More Miami-Dade households were incapable of making ends meet
Hundreds of thousands of Miami-Dade households were incapable of making ends meet, according to the most recent available data from United Way.
According to the 2026 State of ALICE in Florida report, which analyzes data from 2024, 155,328 households in Miami-Dade County were considered to be in poverty, up from 145,803 in 2023. Additionally, 408,619 households met the requirements for ALICE, an increase from 381,666 the year prior. The acronym stands for "AssetLimited, Income Constrained, Employed," and refers to "households that earn more than the federal poverty level, but less than the basic cost of living for the county."
Forty-one percent of households in Miami-Dade County were ALICE households, compared to the state average of 34%. Fifteen percent were in poverty, compared to the state average of 12%, meaning that more than half of households in Miami-Dade County fell below the ALICE threshold in 2024, according to United Way Miami CEO Symeria Hudson.
"Fifty six percent of the households in Miami-Dade County fall into this category of hardworking people that are really trying to make ends meet," Hudson said.
Within the county, there was also significant variation among ZIP codes. For instance, the percentage of households below the ALICE threshold — which includes ALICE households and those in poverty — ranged from 83% in both ZIP code 33142, which serves parts of Brownsville, and ZIP code 33128, which encompasses parts of Downtown, to 15% in ZIP code 33158, which serves parts of Deering Bay.
Household 'survival budget' gave Miami-Dade residents minimal room to breathe
United Way's household survival budget "reflects the minimum cost to live and work in the current economy and includes housing, child care, food, transportation, health care, technology, and taxes." It doesn't include emergency savings or contributions to college or retirement.
Household costs in "every county in Florida were well above the federal poverty level" in 2024, which is $15,060 for a single adult and $31,200 for a family of four.
In 2024 in Miami-Dade County, housing for a single adult cost $1,892 per month, food $549, transportation $424, healthcare $189, and that's not an exhaustive list of necessities — the monthly total, factoring in additional expenses, came to $3,982. The hourly wage for a single adult was $23.89, according to United Way's household survival budget for the region. For multiple adults with children, household, food and transportation costs all increased, with the added expenditure of child care.
For the full chart and breakdown, visit United Way's Miami-Dade County data page.
Miami metro area's cost of living surpassed New York's, the national average
During the same year, the Miami area's cost of living surpassed that of New York, according to the most recent regional price comparison data available from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
The report, which analyzes 2024 data, compares differences in "price levels across states and metropolitan areas" — though both regions had price levels above the national average, the Miami area beat New York in terms of overall expense.
Regional price parities, which the report uses to compare area price levels, have a national average set at 100. If an area's RPP is 120, for instance, then price levels there are 20% higher than the U.S. average.
The Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach metropolitan statistical area had an "all items RPP" of 114.155 — a value that includes all "consumption goods and services," and also covers "housing rents." The New York-Newark-Jersey City metropolitan statistical area, by contrast, had a lower "all items RPP" value of 112.563.
Sarah Perkel is a South Florida Connect Reporter for the USA TODAY Network's Florida Connect team. You can get all of Florida’s best content directly in your inbox each weekday day by signing up for the free newsletter, Florida TODAY.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Why earning $15 an hour in Miami area falls far short living wage
