Scraping by

From a report by the California Budget Project, a Sacramento-based nonprofit and self-described nonpartisan organization that aims to affect public policy regarding low- and middle-income Californians. The report, called “Making Ends Meet,” was released earlier in the fall and can be viewed at the California Budget Project Web site, at www.cbp.org.

Annual income needed by a single adult living in California, in order to achieve a “modest standard of living": $25,867

Annual income needed by a single-parent, two-child family to reach the same standard: $53,987

Annual income needed by a two-parent, two-child family in which only one parent works: $51,177

Annual income needed for a two-parent, two-child family in which both parents work: $71,377

Hourly wage each parent must earn to reach that annual income: $17.16

Current minimum wage in California: $6.75 an hour

Percentage of income a California family of two working parents and two children spends on food: 11.9

Percentage the same family spends on taxes: 15.3

And on housing: 25.2

Fair market rent for a three-bedroom housing unit in Sacramento County in 2005: $1,403 per month

Median home price in Sacramento County for March 2005: $357,360

Median annual income needed to purchase that home on a 30-year conventional mortgage with a 20-percent down payment: $72,047

Sacramento County’s median annual income for 2005: $64,100

Amount of cash savings included in the “modest standard of living” budgets: 0