Fast Food Wages In California

[CASPERWAIT$]

Okay so presently at $20 an hour (with Newsom trying to raise it another 3.5%) it got me thinking.

So you work 40 hours a week. $800 earned before taxes. At 30% taken out of your check you’re left with $560. Multiply that by 4 weeks and you’re making $2240 a month take home. Now they say for rent you should pay 30% of your take home income. That gives you $672 a month for rent. Now the average rent in California is $1837 a month. Even with another fast food roommate, that’s still only $1344 towards rent. Essentially you need to work 50 hours a week at McDonalds and have a roommate to live.

That actually isn’t bad to be honest. It’s a reasonable way to live.

Maybe @stevek and I should go work at McDonalds and get a place together in California 🧐

 

[stevek]

Maybe....

 

[FairWarning]

Probably get food discounts also

 

[CASPERWAIT$]

Probably get food discounts also

I don’t eat any of that but I bet Steve would like a change of pace from Wawa

 

[Blitty]

The first Wawa in Nashville is being built down the street from me

RIGHT NOW

 

[Matty]

There's no way you're paying 30% income tax when you make 20 bucks an hour. Even Canada is not nearly that bad - in fact, at 40k a year, you're paying less than half that.

 

[roguejuror]

I don't think you're finding any place for less than $2500

Amirite @Vegas Dave ?

 

[Vegas Dave]

I don't think you're finding any place for less than $2500

Amirite @Vegas Dave ?

Not in LA for a 2 Bedroom, but plenty of cities in Cali with more affordable rent. Or they could always get cozy in a studio!

 

[roguejuror]

Or they could always get cozy in a studio!

They could share a bed in Compton

 

[Tron]

The first Wawa in Nashville is being built down the street from me

RIGHT NOW

Yeah I don't know. I was all excited about our first WaWa when we got one 4 years ago or whatever.

Then I walked in and I was like, "oh, this is just like walking into any new gas station".

 

[CASPERWAIT$]

I don't think you're finding any place for less than $2500

Amirite @Vegas Dave ?

I went with the average price of apartments in California for 2024

 

[CASPERWAIT$]

There's no way you're paying 30% income tax when you make 20 bucks an hour. Even Canada is not nearly that bad - in fact, at 40k a year, you're paying less than half that.

After what they take out for SS and all the other fun stuff it ends up being between 25-30%

 

[Boner_18]

40k in California:

 

[Tron]

40k in California:

@Boner_18

Can you do $115K in California, Tennessee and Florida or send me the link that you used for the $40K in California?

Much appreciated.

 

[Boner_18]

Just googled state and federal tax calculator and this came up:

Federal Income Tax Calculator (2023-2024)

Calculate your federal, state and local taxes for the current filing year with our free income tax calculator. Enter your income and location to estimate your tax burden.

smartasset.com

California

Florida and Tennessee are the same (Washington, New Hampshire, etc)

 

[Dingo]

We get taxed to death here as well

 

[Tron]

Just googled state and federal tax calculator and this came up:

Federal Income Tax Calculator (2023-2024)

Calculate your federal, state and local taxes for the current filing year with our free income tax calculator. Enter your income and location to estimate your tax burden.

smartasset.com

California

Florida and Tennessee are the same (Washington, New Hampshire, etc)

@Boner_18 , I don't really grasp marginal vs effective tax rate.

could you explain it to me like I'm 9 years old?

Prior to retiring, I planned for my monthly pension to be taxed federally at 26%

But this chart says my effective tax rate is 15.37%, (I don't pay FICA on my monthly pension).

So let's say the federal tax rate goes to 26% in 2025.........

My effective tax rate will be roughly 17.37%?

And why won't I pay the marginal rate of say, 26%

 

[Boner_18]

The Federal income tax is progressive. So your first dollar of income is not taxed at the same rate as your last dollar. Marginal is the tax rate that will be applied to your next dollar of income (the "bracket" you end in). The effective is the weighted average thats actually applied to your income. Here are the brackets:

So taking 115k (just assume no deductions) it's taxed like this:

$11,000 * 10% = 1,100
$11,001 - 44,725 (total of 33,724) * 12% = 4,046
$44,726 - 95,375 (total of 51,099) * 22% = 11,241
$95,376 - 115,000 (total of 19,624) * 24% = 4,709

If you earn another dollar it's taxed at 24%, your marginal rate (think "top" rate). But because of the your earlier dollars were taxed at 10, 12, and 22 percents the rate you paid was not effectively 24%. You paid 1,100 + 4,046 + 11,241 + 4,709 = 21,096. 21,096/115,000 = 18.34%.

Hopefully that helps.