[blagie]

I don't think that's fair. I just went to a random pizza joint. There were two teenagers hanging around behind shooting the breeze. They were polite, fast, and professional when a customer would draft in, but for the most part, it looked like a pretty chill job. I can almost guarantee they were making minimum wage. There are plenty of jobs like that everywhere. There aren't many jobs like that much above minimum wage, or anywhere close to Amazon's wage.

If I were a teenager, I'd take that job over Amazon's nightmarish warehouses.

That calculus changes with rent and family. 30k per year is probably the minimum needed to raise a family for a homeowner in a lower cost-of-living part of the country, which translates to around $15/hour. Someone with rent / mortgage needs a bit more.

[stevenwoo]

Homeowner seems optimistic - how or when are they saving for the downpayment?

30K per year is about poverty level in most of the United States for a family of four. https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2021/demo/p60-27...

But if both parents work at 15/hour, they could rent, though childcare would take a big bite out of their budget even at 60K per year.

Most places with lower cost of living in the USA have jobs closer to federal minimum wage work rather than 15/hour as well.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/16/how-much-money-a-family-of-4...

[blagie]

> Homeowner seems optimistic - how or when are they saving for the downpayment?

In most cases, the scenario described involves families who have been in the US for several generations, who are poorly-educated, but own homes and land. One parent takes care of kids. One works.

It's not uncommon.

Wealth and income aren't as strongly correlated as people assume. A lot of immigrants are low-wealth, high-income, while a lot of American families have generational wealth, but little income. There are plenty of families with >$1M homes with $30k incomes where I live. And there are plenty of families with >$100k incomes, who can't afford to buy homes here too.