ONE INCOME, ONE KID: $80,000 IS THE NATIONAL FLOOR

🔴 $80,000. That is roughly what one parent has to earn for the other to quit and raise one child, according to new SmartAsset research reported by Fortune.

In most states, the number sits below six figures.

The math works for one reason: a stay-at-home parent wipes out daycare, the single biggest line item. Researchers put the cost of raising a child at about $40,000 before tax.

Cheapest places to try it: West Virginia, Arkansas, Mississippi, Kentucky and North Dakota, all under $71,000 a year on one income.

Most expensive: Hawaii, at $102,773 for two adults and a young child. If both parents work there instead, the household needs $119,226 — and daycare alone runs $33,363 a year.

California needs $97,656 on a single income. Massachusetts, $97,261.

The catch is what the number excludes. No vacation. No private school. No bigger house. Fortune notes Investopedia's math on the fuller version — a home, two kids, college tuition — comes to $4.4 million.

And today's "comfortable" is not tomorrow's. Fortune points to Gen X retirees, a quarter of whom have gone back to work because the cost of staying retired outran their savings.

What salary would your household actually need for one person to stop working?

#UPROAR #causeanuproar #costofliving #personalfinance #GenZ