Sonoma County Living Wage

Sonoma County Living Wage
November 13, 2019
By Nadine Zuniga

Is the living wage really a living wage? The Sonoma County living wage is too low to be a living wage. Many people young and old, work to provide food and shelter for their families but also to receive health benefits. More specifically and commonly, those who are immigrants apply for family aid programs. Right now minimum wage is $12 for jobs that consist of 26 employees are more and $11 for jobs that consist of less than 26 employees.

The living wage for one person is roughly around $15, while the living wage for two people is about $30 and for two children and one adult the living wage is $37. Yet it is difficult for a person and/or family to live comfortably when the living wage in Sonoma county is still $11. People have had to move out of the county to live in a county that is more affordable.

There are other factors that affect a person to not meet the normal living standards, not just the fact that living off of a minimum wage is hard. In a time like this with the president that we currently have, immigrants who work these jobs that pay minimum wage and rely on aid from different organizations fear even reapplying. They fear reapplying because they feel that their personal information will be given out. They also fear that when applying for these federal aid programs they will risk the chance of losing their visa that allows them to stay in the country. It is important that these families now that they are still safe to apply for those aid programs.