No! Emphatically. At present, the federally mandated minimum wage is $7.25 which is $290 a week. Were the Biden administration get the desired $15 minimum wage, it will translate to $600. The annual change is from $15,080 to $31,200. The US Health and Human Services puts the poverty level at $26,200. But the problem with all these number is that they have no context.

In the 50 states and the District of Colombia, Alabama has the lowest cost of living whereas Hawaii has the highest. Other high cost-of-living states, such as Massachusetts, New York and Connecticut have set their state’s minimum wage at $12 or more already. Conversely, in the high cost of living states, Pennsylvania has an inordinately low minimum wage at the Federal minimum, and low cost of living South Dakota is at $9.45. The highest in the 50 states is California at $14. One state has divided its minimum wage in to three categories. Oregon designates metro Portland at $13.25, non-rural counties at $12 and rural counties at $11.50. Oregon seems to have come up with a good working solution. The cost of living in Oregon is the 4th highest in the union.

Raising the Federal minimum wage to $10 might make more sense with the provision that each state take the cost of living index and divide it up as Oregon has and using its national index to form a base line. In this manner, the rural counties of Tennessee, for example, will have a lower minimum wage than that of metro Nashville and Memphis. I mention this state because it is one of three states with no state mandated minimum wage. However, nine other states’ minimum wage is identical to the Federal minimum one of which is New Hampshire where its southern and eastern counties have a significantly higher cost of living than its northerly counties.

States like New York and California each needs a minimum wage of $20 for its densely populated areas while a much lower rate for its rural areas. The MacDonald’s worker in New York City needs a lot more income than his counterpart in Plattsburg. And this is true of all states.

Simply put, the Federal government and state governments need to re-think their minimum wages. A reasonable accomodate according to the cost-of-living in each area can be had if the political leadership will simply work towards that.