The Living Wage Rate:
The 2024 Living Wage Rate for employers in Buncombe County is $22.10/hr, and the Pledged Living Wage Rate is $19/hr with a commitment to raise wages 3% plus inflation until the living wage for that year is met.
For employers in Rural WNC counties, the Living Wage Rate is $16.40/hour.
We recalculate the Buncombe living wage rate every year and adjust according to a formula. This formula is based on Fair Market Rent as determined by HUD and adjusted using a four year average of the FMR to mitigate any volatile changes up or down. To download the full calculation, click here.
We adjust our wage rate based on a formula directly related to the cost of housing. Our area has seen a significant rise in the cost of housing over the last several years. As costs rise for employees, the living wage must increase to keep pace with inflation and the real costs of living. Below describes a little bit about how living wages can be calculated, how we calculated ours, and how we arrived at our wage rate.
The WNC rural living wage rate is calculated at 233% of the federal poverty guidelines, rounded to the nearest nickel, due to the unreliability of accurate FMR data in rural counties.
There are three popular ways to calculate a living wage:
Percentage of the Federal Poverty Line
Many living wage ordinances in cities around the country base their wage rate off a percentage of the federal poverty line. The Federal Poverty Guidelines do not take into account regional differences in costs of living and it can be difficult to determine which percentage to use as a standard. Just Economics uses this method to determine the Living Wage Rate for rural counties in WNC.
Living Wage Rate Based on Housing
This is the formula that Just Economics uses for Buncombe County. It is based on the idea that a person who works full-time should be able to afford a one bedroom apartment and their other expenses. Most landlords require proof that a tenant makes 3 times the rent in order to qualify for a rental unit. We use a variation of the Universal Living Wage Formula and rely on third party data from HUD.
Basic Needs Assessment
Several organizations use the costs of basic needs in an area to determine a living wage. For example, the NC Justice Center calculates its Living Income Standards by estimating the local cost of seven main household expenses (food, housing, healthcare, transportation, childcare, taxes, and miscellaneous) for different family sizes. The results from this type of formula can vary drastically as demonstrated by the differences between the NC Justice Center’s Living Income Standards and the MIT Living Wage Calculator for counties in North Carolina. Just Economics elected not to use this method because we do not have the capacity to use sound but complicated methodology to determine these expenses annually and do not want to rely on a third party to determine our living wage.
How Do We Adjust Our Wage Rate?
Just Economics reassesses our living wage rate every year and is very intentional about keeping our wage rate tied to the cost of housing (based on the federally calculated FMR), as affordable housing is a major concern in our area. JE bases our living wage off of a four year average of the FMR, because the FMR can be volatile. We studied how wage rate changes would be impacted by annually using a four year average of the Fair Market Rent as a base. An average smooths out volatile changes while still being responsive to increases in the cost of living.
