What Does It Cost For a Family of Four To Live in Salem?

By BROOKLYN LOWERY (Patch Staff)

The good news: The Boston metro area didn’t even make the 2015 Top 10 most expensive places to raise a family in the U.S.

The bad news: The Economic Policy Institute estimates you’ll still need to average more than $41 per hour at a 40-hour per week job -- about $1,650 per week -- in order to raise a family in Salem.

The EPI recently published its 2015 Family Budget Calculator. The tool “measures the income a family needs in order to attain a secure yet modest standard of living,” in 618 locations throughout the country. Salem falls under the Boston/Cambridge/Quincy metro area heading.

According to the calculator, a family of two adults and two children requires $7,149 each month to attain that “secure yet modest standard of living” in the Swampscott area. That figure takes into account costs for housing ($1,454), food ($782), childcare ($1.339), transportation ($583), healthcare ($883), other necessities ($1,080) and taxes ($1,029).

Annually, a family needs to make $85,793. If you’re willing to move west, you’ll be a bit better off in the Worcester metro area, where the annual income needed estimate comes in at $73,577, still three times the 2014 federal poverty line of $24,008.

Washington D.C. comes in as the priciest place to raise a family, according to the EPI data, which MarketWatch crunched into a ”The 10 Most Expensive Places to Raise a Family in the U.S.” slideshow. In D.C., you need six figures -- $106,493 -- to live that ”secure yet modest” life.

>>>> What do you think? Are these numbers true for your and your family? Do the benefits of living in Salem justify the high cost of living?