Here’s a fun little calculator released by the Economic Policy Institute. Plug in your area and your household size and it’ll give you its estimate of how much you need to be making to have “a modest yet adequate standard of living.”

For a four-person family in Humboldt County — two adults, two kids — the calculator comes up with the magic number of $86,520. Does that sound right to you? Sounds plausible to us, though the way it arrives at that number seems a little suspect. They’re budgeting $1,587 a month for health care? Is anyone without chronic health conditions spending that much?

Anyway, play around with it. You can compare-and-contrast Humboldt County with other areas of the country, if that’s your thing.

Family Budget Calculator

EPI’s Family Budget Calculator measures the income a family needs in order to attain a modest yet adequate standard of living. The budgets estimate community-specific costs for 10 family types (one or two adults with zero to four children) in all counties and metro areas in the United States. Compared with the federal poverty…

ECONOMIC POLICY INSTITUTE

According to CHP, several citizens reporting that a single occupant, elderly male, not injured and is out of the car and at the roadway. CHP not at scene yet and the assigned fire and medical units have not been canceled

Orick area, Hwy 101 1/2 mile north of Bald Hills Rd, veh in ditch and poss CPR in progress, 3rd-hand call from CHP. For CalFire E1274, Orick Fire and Arcata Ambulance