A new report by the CBP, Making Ends Meet: How Much Does It Cost to Raise a Family in California?, estimates the costs of housing, utilities, child care, transportation, food, health coverage, taxes, and other necessities for families with two children and for single adults. The study reports these basic budgets for the state as a whole and for 10 regions throughout the state.

The study finds that families need to earn incomes that are much higher than the federal poverty line to afford to make ends meet. Approximately half of California's workers earn less than the hourly wage needed to support a family of four with two working parents at the level estimated by the CBP basic family budget.

The CBP analysis estimates that in order to pay basic bills in California:

A single-parent family needs an annual income of $59,732, equivalent to an hourly wage of $28.72.
A two-parent family with one employed parent needs an annual income of $50,383, equivalent to an hourly wage of $24.22.
A family with two working parents needs an annual income of $72,343, equivalent to each parent working full-time for an hourly wage of $17.39.
A single adult needs an annual income of $28,336, equivalent to an hourly wage of $13.62.
In contrast, the state's minimum wage provides a full-time worker with an annual income of $15,600, and the federal poverty line for a family of four was $20,444 in 2006.

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