FAMILIES STRUGGLING PARENTS NEED LOTS OF GOLD IN EXPENSIVE GOLDEN STATE.

Byline: Dana Bartholomew Staff Writer

It costs $58,000 a year for the average family of four with two working adults to pay the basic bills in Los Angeles County, according to a study released Tuesday on the cost of living in California.

Many working families live from check to check, juggling mortgages or soaring rents, in addition to paying for utilities, food, child care, health care, taxes, transportation costs - such as car payments, gasoline, insurance or bus fares - and other basic expenses, researchers for the California Budget Project found.

``It's expensive. Why do you think I'm waiting for the bus?'' said Maria Chavez, 30, a single mom from Woodland Hills who makes more than $40,000 a year selling used cars. ``Our rent is about $1,600 for a two-bedroom (apartment). My car is broken.

``It's just hard.''

The $58,000 cost of living for a household with two working adults is nearly triple the federal poverty standard of $18,244, according to the report from the Sacramento-based researchers. A single parent with two kids must earn $48,000 to achieve a modest standard of living.

The study titled ``Making Ends Meet: How Much Does It Cost to Raise a Family in California?'' challenges federal poverty standards - which don't take child care and the soaring cost of housing in California into account - and the minimum wage.

``It's pretty much the basics. It's more than many Californians can afford,'' said Jean Ross, executive director of the California Budget Project and author of the report.

``Many people we know are one transmission repair away from disaster.''

The 28-page report charts the typical basic expenses in 10 regions of the state for singles, single parents with kids, families of four with one breadwinner, and working parents with children.

Family budgets included the cost of housing and utilities, child care, transportation, food, health coverage, taxes and miscellaneous expenses, as for clothing.

The report follows one issued Friday by U.S. Census Bureau indicating that, even with current federal definitions of poverty, the California poverty rate rose to 12.8 percent in 2002. The median income for a household in California was $47,424.

Researchers for the California Budget Project, an independent think tank, study how public policy affects low- and middle-class Californians.

Among the report's findings:

--The California family with both parents at the grindstone needed $58,269 a year - an average wage of $14.01 an hour for each spouse.

The breadwinner needed to earn $40,848, at $19.64 an hour, for a two-parent family in which one of the parents stays home, saving thousands on child care.

The single parent with children needed $48,962, at $23.54 an hour, in order to pay for full-time day care and other expenses.

A single adult needed $22,943 to make ends meet.

``I would say that, in Los Angeles, the numbers are fairly accurate because of the high cost of living and commuting,'' said Allen Martin, director of the Consumer Resource Center at California State University, Northridge.

In Canoga Park, residents like Chavez cheerfully waited for the bus and said paying for the basics is hard. Many simply do without.

``I don't waste much,'' said Lourdes Velasquez, 27, of Reseda, with her 2-year-old daughter in tow. ``I buy what's on sale.''

Velasquez, a single mom who is seven months pregnant, earns $1,200 a month at a Kmart in North Hollywood. She must pay $800 for rent and has no medical insurance or car. She gets no child-support payments, she said. ``If I didn't have my mom (to baby-sit), I'd be living on the street,'' she said.

John McClure, 58, a disabled veteran from Canoga Park, said he shares an apartment with a woman with three children who must work three jobs seven days a week. He gets by on $1,500 a month.

``When I got sick, I literally had to sell everything,'' said McClure, who said he once earned $100,000 a year as a stockbroker. ``You learn to live without all this stuff. It doesn't mean anything.''

Pedro Rodriguez, manager of a Tio Taco stand outside Canoga Park Car Wash, said he makes about $1,300 a month and sends $100 a month to his sister in Guadalajara, Mexico.

He shares a $600-a-month apartment with his father and drives a 1996 Nissan Maxima. He has no health insurance - and no extras. But like many who said they just scrape by, he was cheerful.

``Sometimes, it's hard to make enough money. ... You can't buy things you really want,'' he said, doling out tacos from the take-out window.

Dana Bartholomew, [phone]

dana.bartholomew(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- color) Single mom Maria Chavez of Woodland Hills, holding her 2-year-old daughter at a bus stop, earns more than $40,000 a year but must scrimp to make ends meet.

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer

(2) - Lourdes Velasquez

Reseda resident, shown here with daughter Angela, 2

Box:

MAKING ENDS MEET

SOURCE: California Budget Project study

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