Can one live cheaper then two

[Doc0]

Spouse dies, you loose that SS income and taxes go from MFJ to single a not trivial thing.

 

[HI Bill]

Of course, one CAN live cheaper than two, OR more expensively. After I was married, my eating out budget went down, my grocery bills went up. Overall, it's about the same for me with 2 as it was for one, except when it comes to travel costs. That will change once I have to pay full insurance for both, and we start travelling extensively!

 

[svalder85]

Living cost 1 vs 2

I dont recall the source, but years ago I read a study that compared not just cost of living but also quality.
What they found is when many items that can be shared like internet, appliances, cable, cars, utilities....
That the cost of a house hold was basically the square root.
So if 1=1
If 2 people 1.4
If 4 people 2

 

[DougJohnson]

I dont recall the source, but years ago I read a study that compared not just cost of living but also quality.
What they found is when many items that can be shared like internet, appliances, cable, cars, utilities....
That the cost of a house hold was basically the square root.
So if 1=1
If 2 people 1.4
If 4 people 2

I remember seeing that. Seems good as a rule of thumb and supports the suggestions of one living at 70% of the cost of two. -- Doug

 

[joeea]

If you have student loans, it's easier to attack them with two incomes.

With two incomes, wouldn't you expect two student loans?

 

[Independent]

I dont recall the source, but years ago I read a study that compared not just cost of living but also quality.
What they found is when many items that can be shared like internet, appliances, cable, cars, utilities....
That the cost of a house hold was basically the square root.
So if 1=1
If 2 people 1.4
If 4 people 2

I've seen gov't agencies use this. For example, the Congressional Budget Office does reports on effective tax rates by household income. When they do that, they adjust the income for the number of people in the household.

How are households ranked?

For this purpose, CBO groups households into quintiles on the basis of their income and tabulates the income and taxes for each quintile. CBO adjusts for household size by dividing household income by the square root of household size, to take account of the differing needs of larger and smaller households. CBO then ranks households by their (adjusted) income and groups them in quintiles (fifths of the distribution).

https://www.cbo.gov/publication/24725

But, this is not the way they calculate the Federal Poverty Level. It is roughly $12,000 for the first person and $4,000 for each additional person.