It costs a family of three nearly $63,000 to be self- sufficient in San Diego County, about $10,000 more than three years ago, according to a study released today by the Insight Center for Community Economic Development.
The organization tallied the price of housing, food and health care, as well as transportation costs, child care and taxes, for a family with one adult, a school-age child and a preschooler.
"Even three full-time minimum wage jobs doesn't make enough to make ends meet in San Diego County," said Clare Crawford of the Center On Policy Initiatives, a San Diego-based advocacy group.
Crawford said the federal poverty level is inadequate in high-cost cities like San Diego, and that the Insight Center figures give a truer picture of the necessary family income.
More than 1 million San Diegans are living in households earning less than Insight's threshold, she said.
A single adult raising two young children would have to make $30 an hour to meet expenses.
A single adult living alone needs to make more than $29,000 per year to cover all of his or her basic expenses, according to the report, the "2011 California Family Economic Self-Sufficiency Standard."
In the last three years, taxes increased 29 percent, health care costs went up 27 percent and child care expenses climbed 22 percent, according to the report.
