I don’t see how one can responsibly argue for a nation wide minimum wage.But then I’m cynical. Enough to suspect the reason the minimum wage was never tied to inflation was that our politicians valued the political value of the fight for or against each and every raise over the efficacy of the minimum wage itself. Some cities are even less costly than those listed. Does $15 per hour sound right for both Riverside California and Manhattan? Not IMO, not even Los Angeles and Riverside compare fairly. So much for State level.

Is it not time to stop discussing THE minimum wage and wake up to the fact that costs vary by location? Lets’ get real.

UPDATED 4/20
Whatever we do, lets then tie it to an acceptable economic indicator. CPI, inflation, something along those lines. We should all be very suspicious of the motives of anyone that wants to keep the politics and the resultant propaganda hay in it, as we have now.

Here are a handful cities on their list, along with the income needed to live comfortably in those cities:

• San Francisco: $119,570
• Boston: $84,422
• Washington, DC: $83,104
• New York: $87,446
• Los Angeles: $74,371
• Denver: $62,842
• Nashville: $61,015
• Baltimore: 53,897
• Houston: $60,795
• Miami: $77,057

The study includes a breakdown of how much of that income would be spent on housing, discretionary spending, and savings for each city. Check it out at the link below.

More: The Income You Need to Live Comfortably in 50 U.S. Cities