Fuck. Minimum wage here in Arizona JUST (like in the last 4-5 months or so) got bumped up to like $7 something an hour... This JUST happened...
Before it did though, Minimum wage here in the Lovely Sweltering "Valley Of The Sun" we call home here in Arizona, was a mere $5.15 an hour.
I know people that WISH they made $12 an hour to start. lol
A lot of my friends work for under $10 an hour... Some of them around 9...
The ones that make decent money (upwards of $14 an hour) are working labor jobs...
Construction and the like...
And as you can imagine, when your average daily temp here during the summer is 115 degrees or so, that sucks.
Then again, you can get a brand new 2300 sq. ft. 2 story home, complete with 18" tile floors, granite everything, cherry cabinetry, stainless appliances, and a modern multi tone interior paint scheme, in a gated community, for around $250,000.
I'm basing this on the most recent house I rented. That describes it exactly, and I measured my bedroom + bath + walk in closet at just over 500 sq. ft.
Not bad for 250 g's
Or how about something like this...
Residential Detail - Eileen Roberson
Maybe it isnt the best, I dont know, but growing up in San Diego, it seems damn cheap to me, as that house would cost $700,000 - $1.1 mil in San Diego.