A Family Budget Calculator

Evans on Marketing

7 years ago

Over the years, we have written a lot on budgeting from a business perspective. Yet, we as individuals often need assistance in our own personal budgeting. Hence, today’s topic: a family budget calculator. Last month, we covered the role of budgeting in holiday shopping.

First, we cite some past business-oriented posts for you to peruse:

A Family Budget Calculator from EPI

The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) is “a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank created in 1986 to include the needs of low- and middle-income workers in economic policy discussions. EPI believes every working person deserves a good job with fair pay, affordable health care, and retirement security.”

Accordingly, EPI devised an easy-to-use family budget calculator:

It “calculator measures the income a family needs to attain a modest yet adequate standard of living. The calculator estimates community-specific costs for 10 family types (one or two adults with zero to four children) in all counties and metro areas in the United States. As compared with the federal poverty line and the Supplemental Poverty Measure, EPI’s family budgets provide a more accurate and complete measure of economic security in America.”

Below, we present illustrative budgets based on the EPI calculator. In each example, the family contains two adults and one child. The charts differ by geographic location. After looking at the samples, click here to project a budget in your area. Note: The budgets are general in nature. Indeed, factors such as age are not included.

In reviewing the charts, please note the differences in the five cities. For Akron, Austin, and Miami-Dade, the cost of living is moderate. In contrast, the cost of living for Nassau-Suffolk and San Francisco is expensive.

What do YOU think of this family budget calculator? After inputting your own data, comment on the budget projection shown for YOU.