Marshall County is in pretty good shape when it comes to providing for yourself and your family.
That’s according to data in a report released by the Indiana Institute for Working Families. A team of researchers from the University of Washington helped develop the standard which attempts to define salary levels for residents to attain self-sufficiency.
According to the report, self-sufficiency includes paying for costs like housing, child care, food, transportation, and healthcare without receiving assistance.
For a household with one adult and one child, Marshall County was in the lower-half of the state for self-sufficient earnings: requiring an hourly wage rate of $14.53 cents. That compares to $17.82 in Starke County, $14.30 in Fulton County, and $15.20 per hour in Kosciusko County. The required wages change based on family composition.
According to the 2016 report, the average cost of living between 2005 and 2016 has increased by 60-percent in the Hoosier state. Meanwhile, median earnings have only risen by 9-percent.
Researchers who developed the report recommend wage increases alongside access to post-secondary education to increase wages for areas in need. Job training was also recommended as a way to increase earning power.
