If you only earn the minimum wage working in Indiana it will be hard to make ends meet, since the Hoosier State's minimum wage is less than Indiana's living wage.
Indiana's minimum wage is the federally mandated rate of $7.25 per hour, which translates to an annual salary of $15,080 if an employee works 40 hours a week and does not take any time off during the year.
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By comparison, the living wage in Indiana is calculated at $9.74 per hour for a single adult and $20.36 per hour for an adult raising one child,
according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
A living wage is the hourly rate necessary to in order support oneself and family in the state where he or she resides. Costs factored into the living wage rate include food, housing, transportation, taxes, and medical and child care expenses.
Typical annual expenses in Indiana for instance include $3,087 for food for one adult, and $6,849 for one adult with two children, MIT said. Housing costs average at around $5,701 for a single adult, and $8,675 for an adult with one or two children. Medical expenses average around $2,143 for a single adult and transportation about $4,569.
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The bottom line? A single adult needs to earn $17,627 per year to be self-sufficient and not go into debt for basic expenses in Indiana, which is $2,500 more than a worker earning only minimum wage will make in one year.
Indiana is one of 21 states that have either adopted the federal minimum wage or are forced to pay that rate because the state minimum wage is set lower than this rate. Twenty-nine other states and Washington, D.C., have higher minimum wages.
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