YMTF Data

The follow two charts show Cost-of-Living data for three different life styles which are defined in the following table.

	Life Style
	Basic	Moderate	Good
Car	Chevette	Accord	2 Cars + RV or Boat
Housing	Rent 1 bedroom apartment.	Rent 3 bedroom apartment.	Own 4 bedroom house.

Additionally, the other large expense categories are:

• Food and Entertainment
• Clothing
• Taxes

Taxes (Sales, Social Security, Federal & State Income) gobble up between 20% to 40% of one's wages. The first chart shows the average cost-of-living per month for the three life styles. Note that the Cost-of-Living for the Basic life style ranges from $1,500 to $2,400 per month which equates to approximately $350 to $550 per week.

The chart below shows the salary required to maintain each of the three life styles defined above. The salaries are estimated based on a 40 hour work week. Note that the Basic Life Style salary requirement is more than twice the current minimum wage.

The follow two charts show graphically the dollar value of education. The top chart shows the average starting salary for different levels of education. Note that the average starting salary for a high school graduate ($11) is 38% higher than that of a drop out ($8) - a 38% salary raise for completing high school.

This second chart shows the average Lifetime Earnings for an individual with and without a high school diploma. Over a lifetime, on the average, a high school graduate can expect to earn $1,000,000 (one million dollars) more than a high school dropout. This equates to over $100 earned for each hour of high school class room attendance. That is a nice salary just for attending high school and graduating.