The minimum wage in Texas should be raised to $9.25 because the cost of living is too high in Texas for anyone to live on $7.25. Raising the minimum wage will make living in Texas better. The average efficiency, one bedroom apartment in Dallas is $1000.00 per month. Minimum wage workers earn $1,160.00 a month, pretax if they work forty hours a week. Minimum wage workers making this amount leaves workers only $160.00 for all other expenses. Baylor says that the minimum wage “is a poverty wage …. A minimum wage worker trying to support his family would need to work multiple jobs and rely on significant public assistance, and even probably would not make ends meet” (Don Baylor). A minimum wage worker with one job will not be able to support himself or his family.
Medical costs are too high in Texas for anyone to afford with a minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. With a minimum wage of $9.25 an hour, minimum wage workers will be able to afford medical costs. The estimated monthly medical cost for a minimum wage worker is $131 and for a minimum wage worker supporting a family it is $488 (living wage calculator). The NCCI compares the medical costs in Texas with the national average, they say “medical costs are forty-nine percent higher in Texas than the national average”. The minimum wage in Texas should be raised so people can afford these prices.
The average monthly gasoline bill in Texas is too high for a minimum wage worker who owns a car. With a minimum wage of $9.25 an hour