D.C. Cost Of Living 2013: Four-Person Families Need Over $88,000 A Year, According To The Economic Policy Institute

Anyone who lives here could have told you that D.C.-area families need a whole lot of cash just to get by. You still may be shocked by the exact amount that the Economic Policy Institute finds it takes for DMV families to make ends meet.

In the Washington area, a family of four would need to bring in $88,615 in order to "attain a secure yet modest living standard by estimating community-specific costs of housing, food, child care, transportation, health care, other necessities, and taxes," according to the Economic Policy Institute's "Family Budget Calculator."

The only area with a higher cost of living is New York City, where a family of four needs over $93,000.

The cost of living in the D.C.-area is around $25,000 -- or 40 percent -- higher than the national median of $63,000, according to WAMU's report on EPI's findings.

A family of three in the Washington-area still need to make over $80,000 to live modestly, and single-parent with one child needs $70,000.

"For families living on minimum-wage jobs, it is virtually impossible to make ends meet," Elise Gould, the director of health policy research for EPI, told WAMU.

According to the Washington Post, a full-time minimum wage worker makes about $15,000 a year, which for a single-parent, is roughly $55,000 less than needed to live securely in or around the nation's capital, by EPI estimates.