What Life Really Costs at $7.25 an Hour
It Takes 74 Minutes of Minimum-Wage Work to Buy a Sara Lee Apple Pie
Published in
4 min readSep 23, 2014
By Billy Domineau
5,859 hours
for a 20% down payment on a median-priced U.S. home
($42,480, National Association of Realtors)
1,654 hours
for a 2015 Nissan Versa, the least expensive new car available in the U.S.
($11,990, Nissan USA)
149 hours
for one year of service with an iPhone 6 Plus (64 GB), plus 55 hours for the phone itself
($1080, $400, Verizon Wireless)
124 hours
for dinner for 2 at Masa, New York’s most expensive restaurant (not incl. drinks, tax, or gratuity)
($900, Masa)
112 minutes
for an adult ticket at a national movie theater chain
($13.50, AMC)
93 days
for a 5-day, 4-night all-inclusive trip to Disney World for a family of four*
(approx. $5,400, Disney Parks)
74 minutes
for a Sara Lee Frozen Apple Pie
($9.95, Groceries Express)
46 hours
for a monthly Stafford loan payment
(assumes $31,000 borrowed, undergrad maximum)
22 weeks
to cover the maximum yearly out-of-pocket expenses for a basic-coverage health care plan through the Affordable Care Act’s insurance exchanges*
($6,350, healthcare.gov)
16.5 minutes
for a 5 Hour Energy shot
($2, Billy’s corner bodega)
8.3 hours
for a pair of designer kids’ sneakers, bought on sale
($60, Foot Locker, Nike)
4.8 years
for one year of tuition, room, and board at a top-tier private university*
($72,577, NYU)
2.5 days
for five days of daycare expenses*
($148, Pew Charitable Trust)
1.01 hours
for a McDonald’s Big Mac Value meal
($7.29, McDonalds)
0.00452 seconds
for the Koch Brothers to make $7.25. In 2013, their combined total net worth increased at an equivalent rate of $5,769,230.77 an hour
(Forbes)
*days, weeks, years are based on 8-hour work days
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