American families need to earn $35.80 an hour just to make ends meet. Few earn that.

Decades of stagnant wages, rising costs, and frequent economic crises in the U.S. have put millions of Americans close to financial advantage. Just before the end of the month, a family with one adult and two children should earn an average of $ 35.80 an hour, an income level that exceeds that earned by most households across the country. according to a new 2022 County Health study. Classifications.

Of the country’s more than 3,100 counties, families in just two counties earn enough to reach their county’s baseline for a decent wage, said Keith Gennuso, lead author of the study. A decent wage covers the costs of food, housing, child care, health care, and transportation, but does not include savings for retirement, higher education costs, emergency savings, or other expenses that may help families. to ensure long-term financial security.

An hourly wage of $ 35.80 equals about $ 74,400 in annual income. The average hourly wage stood at $ 31.73 in March, or about $ 66,000 a year, according to the latest government data. That means many families are lagging behind in their ability to pay for the basics, said Marjory Givens, co-director of County Health Rankings, which is a program at the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute. .

“This is definitely a clear indication that economic security is beyond the reach of many,” Givens told CBS MoneyWatch. “It’s a call to action.”

The two counties where income meets or exceeds basic wages are Los Alamos County in New Mexico and Williamson County in Tennessee, according to the analysis, which was based on 2021 data from the MIT Worthy Wage Calculator. by MIT Professor Amy Glasmeier. These two counties “appear to be relatively high-income counties with a lower cost of living and good health outcomes,” Givens noted.

Los Alamos County, home of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, has an average family income of more than $ 111,000. Tennessee’s Williamson County, near Nashville, has an average family income of about $ 118,000.

A decent wage is not uniform across the country, with some areas, such as expensive coastal cities like New York and Los Angeles, having significantly higher basic costs than other regions. The study found that the lowest decent wage is $ 29.81 an hour, which is enough for the needs in Holmes County, Mississippi, and ranges up to a maximum of $ 65.45 per hour. time is it in San Francisco.

Inflation erodes wage gains

Workers are now seeing significant wage increases amid labor shortages, but these increases are being swallowed as inflation far exceeds the typical wage rise. This is putting more workers under financial stress as they seek to recover in the midst of the ongoing pandemic.

The county’s health ranking took advantage of the 2021 data, but does not fully reflect rising inflation by the end of 2021 and 2022, Givens said.

At the same time, families continue to be economically disadvantaged by long-term structural issues such as sexism and racism, with the report highlighting the gender pay gap as detrimental to the well-being of both families and the economy. The study found that women earn about 81 cents for every $ 1 earned by men, with an even bigger gap in the southern and plain states in the west.

The pandemic exacerbated the financial struggles facing many women in the labor force, with the female labor force participation rate falling to a 30-year low. In some cases, this was due to the fact that women with children had to quit their jobs due to the lack of childcare and other challenges.

“We already knew that women experience discriminatory practices in the workplace and our systems do not allow women to fully participate in the workforce,” Givens said. “These are systems and structures that we need to address.”

Daycare is not affordable in all counties

Child care is generally considered affordable if it costs less than 7% of a household’s income, but the study found no county in the United States where the care of two children is below that threshold. . The study found that this is a major barrier for families and their own child care providers, whose low average wages make it virtually impossible to pay for their own children’s outside care.

“It is likely that a child care provider with two children would not even be able to provide their own services; it would account for 50% of their income,” Gennuso said.

Older children are also being affected in much of the country, and the study found that public schools lack funding in many parts of the country, the researchers said. About half of all U.S. counties operate with a public school funding gap, which needs an additional $ 3,000 per student on average, and with the largest deficits in the southern states.

“We know that a well-funded school can put a child on a path to success and a healthy life,” Gennuso said. “Schools need the resources to provide this quality education, and we know this is not the reality in the United States.”