[usaar333]

Great points.

> On the other hand, if you income level drops, it's can be very difficult to reduce housing costs fast. Thus I would think that people are more vulnerable to unexpected drops in income.

I was shocked to see how high housing was. 31.3% just for rent or mortgage? You are screwed in a two person household if someone loses a job.

And 5.4% for utilities? I assume that includes mobile, but that feels incredibly high.

[Tloewald]

What's the median household income post tax? Can't find a good figure but it's around $50k pretax. Which is I guess 40k ish post tax, $3.5k or so per month. So 5% of that is $175.

Phone, cable, water, trash, electricity?