Students have a tough time with budgeting because they don't really know how much they need to earn to live the kind of life they aspire to live. It's a tough lesson for me to teach because there are a lot of variables that make the lesson complex and different for every student. Each line item in a budget is an individual's choice, and each line item will be different depending one where the student lives. Not to mention inflation.
Today, I stumbled across the Living Wage Calculator.
This calculator illustrates the living wage, poverty wage, and minimum wage for every state, county, and most cities across the country. It provides geographic specific anticipated expenses for various family sizes, as well as anticipated incomes for different careers. So at least this tool can provide some clarity to the students as they try to understand what it will cost to live and what they can expect to earn - - all depending on where they live.
As you can see here, M.I.T. extracts the information from a number of government websites. I highly recommend incorporating the site into your budgeting lesson.
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