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