Stores like Target and Starbucks around here advertise jobs paying about $19 an hour.

Work 40 hours a week and you’ll gross roughly $3,300 a month.
After taxes? You’re left with around $2,850.
The average one bedroom apartment rents for about $1,850.
That’s nearly two thirds of your take home pay gone before you’ve bought groceries, filled your gas tank, paid insurance, or handled a single unexpected bill.
Then people wonder why so many workers are struggling and call it “poor money management.”
If you’re putting in full time hours, surviving shouldn’t feel like a monthly gamble.