A single adult without children living in metro Atlanta needs to earn somewhere between $23.79 and $27.32 an hour just to cover the basics — rent, food, health care, transportation and utilities — with nothing left over for a night out, a vacation, or paying down debt. That is the range across the region's five core counties, and it stands in stark contrast to Georgia's standard minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.
Georgia’s wage floor is more layered than the comparison suggests: state law sets a $5.15 hourly minimum, but the Georgia Department of Labor says the federal $7.25 rate applies to most workers, subject to limited exceptions. The federal minimum has been $7.25 since July 24, 2009. The comparison, then, is between a modeled basic-needs budget and the wage floor that applies to most covered workers—not a separate $7.25 Georgia state rate.
County-By-County Breakdown Shows a Wide Gap
The figures, compiled by the Living Wage Institute and reported by FOX 5 Atlanta, break down county by county. Gwinnett County sits at the top of the list, requiring a single adult without children to earn $27.32 an hour, or $56,821 annually before taxes — the highest threshold among the five counties. Cobb County follows closely at $27.10 an hour ($56,371 annually), with Fulton County at $26.73 an hour ($55,599 annually) and DeKalb County at $26.07 an hour ($54,233 annually). Clayton County has the lowest bar to clear at $23.79 an hour, or $49,487 annually before taxes.
Those numbers only cover one adult with no dependents. The math gets far steeper once children enter the picture. A single parent with one child in Fulton County needs to earn $41.80 an hour, the report notes, while the same household type in Gwinnett County needs $42.33 an hour — nearly double what a childless single adult would need in either county.
Childcare and Transportation Drive Up the Numbers
Childcare is the biggest reason those family budgets balloon. Across the five core counties, childcare alone averages more than $11,200 annually for one child and climbs to nearly $22,000 annually for two children, according to the same dataset. Housing is another major driver — individual housing costs exceed $19,900 annually in Cobb County and top $20,800 annually in Gwinnett County, per the figures. Transportation adds further strain, with annual expenses for single adults averaging more than $9,000.
Notably, the living wage calculator the Living Wage Institute maintains is designed to measure only full-time hourly earnings needed to cover food, housing, health care, transportation and basic utilities without relying on government or private assistance — it is not a comfort-level budget. The model does not account for eating out, entertainment, unpaid vacations, student loan or credit card debt, or long-term financial savings, so the real-world cost of living in metro Atlanta for many households likely runs higher than the baseline figures suggest.
The calculator is produced by MIT, and its 2026 model counts eight basic needs—not only the major expenses listed above—including childcare, civic engagement, broadband and mobile service, and other necessities. It also adds estimated federal and state income and payroll taxes to the budget, then divides the total among working adults and by 2,080 hours, assuming a full-time schedule of 40 hours a week for 52 weeks. As the calculator’s methodology explains, the hourly figure is a county- and household-specific estimate, not a measure of what each worker actually pays or earns.
Many Common Jobs Fall Short of the Threshold
Federal wage data cited in the same report illustrates just how many workers fall under these thresholds in their everyday jobs. Food preparation and serving workers average $30,550 annually, healthcare support workers average $37,360, building and grounds maintenance workers average $35,580, and office and administrative support workers average $46,490, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics figures referenced in the report. Workers in each of those four sectors earn below the basic-needs income required in all five core counties.
A broader measure of what it takes to live comfortably — not just scrape by — paints an even starker picture. Using a separate methodology built on the 50/30/20 budgeting rule, a different study found that single Atlanta residents would need an hourly wage of $51.66, or a $107,453 salary before taxes, to live comfortably. For working parents with two children, that figure jumps to $230,880 needed annually, the same study found. Atlanta ranked 79th out of 99 metropolitan areas studied for affordability, per that analysis.
The Numbers Arrive as a Factor in Georgia's Governor's Race
The living-wage figures are surfacing as early voting is underway across Georgia ahead of the November general election, where voters will decide the state's next governor. Democratic nominee Keisha Lance Bottoms has said full-time workers should not struggle to meet basic necessities, and she has called for raising Georgia's state minimum wage to $15 an hour, establishing a statewide affordable housing trust fund, and creating tuition-free community and technical colleges.
Republican nominee Rick Jackson has taken a different approach, proposing to expand high school and adult technical training in fields like agriculture, plumbing and electrical work. Jackson has argued that such training can help residents secure jobs paying $25 an hour or more with benefits, and he has contended that inflation in Atlanta outpaced national trends while Bottoms served as mayor. State lawmakers have not indicated whether upcoming legislative proposals will address Georgia's $7.25 minimum wage when the General Assembly returns for its January 2027 session, though worker advocacy groups are expected to push for measures addressing cost of living and wage standards at that time.
A Snapshot, Not the Full Picture
The living-wage figures were compiled and published in February 2026 using costs adjusted to December 2025 dollars, meaning they do not capture any 2026 price swings, interest-rate shifts, tariffs, fluctuating gas prices or major economic policy changes that may have occurred since. The housing component of the model relies on the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's 2026 Fair Market Rents, which were released in August 2025, according to the Living Wage Institute's technical documentation. The Living Wage Institute updates its regional cost metrics annually and expects to release its next full dataset in early 2027.
Researchers have not detailed how many workers or families across the five counties currently earn below these living-wage baselines, leaving the scale of the affordability gap in metro Atlanta an open question for now.
