The self sufficiency standard for Washington State

http://www.swwdc.org/docs/wassr.pdf

Appears to be $18,817 for a single person, $40,388 for a single parent and $54,328 for a family of four in King County.

Much lower in Missouri

http://www.sixstrategies.org/files/ACF6D.pdf

In Boone County it is $13,192 for a single person, $23,363 for a single parent, and $37,308 for a family of four. But that was 2002 as well.

It is an alternative measure of poverty, as the blog 14% says

"The study only deals with Washington State, so it's dangerous to extrapolate much of consequence for the rest of the country. But, to provide one example of the disparity between the Federal Poverty Line and the actual cost of survival, in King County, which includes Seattle, the federal government estimates that it costs $14,570 for a single adult and a single preschooler to get by (as mentioned above, that's not a geographically sensitive figure); the Self Sufficiency Standard estimates the real cost for that family is between $38,593 and $48,060. A difference of, at minimum, $24,023.

Meaning that everyone in that $24,000 window is sinking slowly; while being told they don't need any help."

http://fourteenpercent.typepad.com/14/2009/08/i-was-raised-out-on-these-mean-streets-you-know-where-poverty-and-hell-meet.html

quick, I need to say something stupid to draw some replies!