Family-Sustaining Wages in the Land of Sky Region of WNC

Beginning in April of this year, myFutureNC, our statewide partner in educational attainment, began hosting a weekly series of Bite-Sized Webinars to shine a spotlight on one piece of the data in their 2024 County Profiles. In addition to providing state-level data for the featured metric, and a deeper explanation of that data, these short (20 minutes or less) webinars also include presentations about best practices being used in NC to increase educational attainment at the local or regional level.

This post is the first in a series in which we will be examining the topic of one of those Bite-Sized Webinars through a regional lens for the Land of Sky, which includes Buncombe, Henderson, Madison, and Transylvania counties in Western North Carolina.

myFutureNC hosted the first Bite-Sized Webinar on April 2, 2024. Across the state, the data show that 54% of North Carolinians ages 25-44 who are working are earning family-sustaining wages. Put another way, 46% of North Carolinians who are working are not earning enough to get by without additional financial support from outside sources.

In the Land of Sky region, workers are not doing as well financially, with only 49% of residents ages 25-44 earning family-sustaining wages. That means that only about 1 out of every 2 working adults makes enough money to meet their financial needs.

During the deep dive into the data section of the webinar, Cory Biggs, the Director of Policy and Advocacy for myFutureNC, explained the definition of “family-sustaining wages,” which are also sometimes called “living wages.” When compiling data for this section of their county profiles, myFutureNC used the MIT Living Wage Calculator, which defines “family-sustaining” or “living wage” as earning enough to cover necessary expenses–such as food, medical care, childcare, housing, and transportation–without having to rely on financial assistance from other sources.

For the Asheville metro area–which includes the four counties in the Land of Sky region plus Haywood County–the MIT Living Wage Calculator indicates that two working adults with one child would need to earn $88,833 per year just to make enough for their essential expenses. That equates to a wage of $20.84 per hour.

Of the four counties in the Land of Sky region, two (Buncombe and Henderson) are suburban and two (Madison and Transylvania) are rural, according to the NC Rural Center. Let’s zoom in from the regional level to focus on family-sustaining wages at the county level. Here’s how our counties rank in the percentages of working adults who earn family-sustaining wages:

1. Madison – 55%
2. Buncombe – 50%
3. Henderson – 46%
4. Transylvania – 39%

Madison County has the highest percentage out of our four counties of working adults who earn family-sustaining wages. A Madison County family with two working adults and one child needs to earn an annual income of $77,861 before taxes to have enough money for their necessary expenses, per the MIT Living Wage Calculator. The equivalent hourly wage for each working adult is $18.72. According to myFutureNC’s 2024 County Profile for Madison County, 55% of adults ages 25-44 met the threshold for earning family-sustaining wages in 2022.

Of the four counties in the Land of Sky region, Buncombe County has the second highest percentage of working adults who earn family-sustaining wages. In Buncombe County, a family with two working adults and one child would need to earn an annual income of $92,371 before taxes to have enough money for their necessary expenses, per the MIT Living Wage Calculator. That translates to an hourly wage of $22.20 for each working adult. According to myFutureNC’s 2024 County Profile for Buncombe County, 50% of adults ages 25-44 earned family-sustaining wages in 2022.

Henderson County ranked 3rd of our four counties in the percentage of working adults who are earning family-sustaining wages. A family with two working adults and one child in Henderson County would need to earn an annual income of $86,706 before taxes to have enough money for their necessary expenses. That translates to an hourly wage of $20.84 for each working adult. The 2024 myFutureNC County Profile for Henderson County indicates that 46% of adults ages 25-44 earned family-sustaining wages in 2022.

Transylvania County had the lowest percentage of our four counties of working adults who are earning family-sustaining wages. A family with two working adults and one child in Transylvania County would need to earn an annual income of $79,643 before taxes to have enough money for their necessary expenses. That translates to an hourly wage of $19.14 for each working adult. The 2024 myFutureNC County Profile for Transylvania County indicates that 39% of adults ages 25-44 earned family-sustaining wages in 2022.

The best practices section of the webinar featured Dr. Annie Izod from the NC Department of Commerce and the NCWorks Commission and Dr. Lisa Chapman, the President of Central Carolina Community College. Both talked about NCWorkforce Credentials, which are priority, non-degree credentials that can earn family-sustaining wages. At both the state and local level, increasing access to these short-term training programs is an important best practice that has wide bipartisan support and can lead to improvements in the financial situation of families across the state.

At the Land of Sky P20 Council, two of our initiatives that directly support increasing the percentage of individuals who earn family-sustaining wages and NCWorkforce Credentials are Project Collaborate, which is a federally-funded project that provides education and training opportunities that are specifically selected because they lead to family-sustaining wages, and our “localized” NCWorkforce Credentials directory, which tells you where you can earn NCWorkforce Credentials specifically in the Land of Sky region.

Visit myFutureNC’s Family-Sustaining Wage indicator page for more information including a definition of Family-Sustaining Wage, an explanation for why this indicator matters, comparisons between NC and other states, data on the state’s performance (including long-term trends and data for split out by geography, sex, and race/ethnicity), details on the methodology, and links to other organizations in NC that are working on this topic.

Stay tuned for more in this series. Next up: labor market alignment.