A single adult without children living in metro Atlanta needs to earn somewhere between $23.79 and $27.32 an hour just to cover the basics — rent, food, health care, transportation and utilities — with nothing left over for a night out, a vacation, or paying down debt. That is the range across the region’s five core counties, and it stands in stark contrast to Georgia’s standard minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.
Georgia’s wage floor is more layered than the comparison suggests: state law sets a $5.15 hourly minimum, but the Georgia Department of Labor says the federal $7.25 rate applies to most workers, subject to limited exceptions. The federal minimum has been $7.25 since July 24, 2009. The comparison, then, is between a modeled basic-needs budget and the wage floor that applies to most covered workers—not a separate $7.25 Georgia state rate.
County-By-County Breakdown Shows a Wide Gap
The figures, compiled by the Living Wage Institute and reported by FOX 5 Atlanta, break down county by county. Gwinnett County sits at the top of the list, requiring a single adult without children to earn $27.32 an hour, or $56,821 annually before taxes — the highest threshold among the five counties. Cobb County follows closely at $27.10 an hour ($56,371 annually), with Fulton County at $26.73 an hour ($55,599 annually) and DeKalb County at $26.07 an hour ($54,233 annually). Clayton County has the lowest bar to clear at $23.79 an hour, or $49,487 annually before taxes.
Those numbers only cover one adult with no dependents. The math gets far steeper once children enter the picture. A single parent with one child in Fulton County needs to earn $41.80 an hour, the report notes, while the same household type in Gwinnett County needs $42.33 an hour — nearly double what a childless single adult would need in either county.
Childcare and Transportation Drive Up the Numbers
Childcare is the biggest reason those family budgets balloon. Across the five core counties, childcare alone averages more than $11,200 annually for one child and climbs to nearly $22,000 annually for two children, according to the same dataset. Housing is another major driver — individual housing costs exceed $19,900 annually in Cobb County and top $20,800 annually in Gwinnett County, per the figures. Transportation adds further strain, with annual expenses for single adults averaging more than $9,000…