A new report says that Plano, Texas is the least affordable city in the U.S. for residents that earn a minimum wage salary.
Financial technology company SmartAsset conducted the study by evaluating the minimum wage in 79 of the largest American cities and adjusted them to account for the cost of living in each city.
Currently, Plano has a minimum wage of $7.25, but when modified to reflect the Texas city's cost of living, SmartAsset found that the adjusted wage would actually be valued at $6.47 — a difference of 78 cents.
Plano's $6.47 adjusted value was tied for the lowest with Honolulu, Hawaii — whose $12 minimum wage made for one of the larger discrepancies when compared to the adjusted value.
Alongside of Plano and Honolulu, rounding out the bottom five cities for minimum wage earners were New Orleans ($6.54), Philadelphia ($6.69) and Atlanta ($6.80). All three cities, similar to Plano, have their minimum wages set at the federally mandated $7.25.
Other Texas cities on the list did not fare much better than Plano in terms of their respective adjusted values. Dallas' $7.25 wage was found to be more reflective of $6.98 when the cost of living was considered, which placed it amongst the top 10 worst American cities. Only one spot higher than Dallas was Austin, which had a cost-adjusted wage worth $7.16.
In fact, none of the Texas cities even cracked the top 50 best cities for minimum wage workers to live. The closest city in the Lone Star State was El Paso, which had an adjusted wage priced at $8.11 — which was 86 cents higher than the city's statutory minimum wage of $7.25.
Every Texas city that was included on SmartAsset's list had their respective minimum wages set to $7.25, which is required by federal law. Besides Plano, Dallas and Austin, the other Texas cities on the list were found to actually have a positive difference when taking into account living costs.
Joining El Paso as the Texas cities to have a higher adjusted value when compared to the original wage included Arlington ($7.51), Fort Worth ($7.51), Houston ($7.58), Corpus Christi ($7.75), San Antonio ($7.86) and Lubbock ($8.07).
