Article 2 | Q2 2026
What Wage is Enough to Thrive in Central Texas?
Self-sufficiency, living, thriving, oh my.
If you are in workforce, education, or serve adults in the community, you have heard these terms a lot. Whether you were attending a conference, talking with partners, or even city officials, these terms are a hot topic here in Central Texas. You may have even joined the lingo party, talking about self-sufficiency, living, or thriving wage in your own work.
But have you wondered, “Are we all talking about the same thing?”
The answer is probably not.
These three terms get used interchangeably, urgently, and often without definition. This means the conversation about what Central Texas workers actually need to survive and succeed stays frustratingly vague. So, Literacy Coalition is cutting through the noise.
The rising cost of living in Central Texas is pressing on nearly everyone. Like many of my neighbors, I feel it too. The economics of living in this region have shifted in ways that would have been hard to imagine even a decade ago, and no income level is entirely immune.
If the cost of living is pressing on us, what does that tell us about the adults we serve? The ones earning whatever the system says should be “enough,” working hard, doing everything right, and still living one unexpected expense away from crisis?
It tells us that “enough” is not actually enough. And it is time we defined our terms.
Why the Terminology Matters
The words we use to talk about wages are not just semantic. They shape policy decisions, funding priorities, program goals, and the expectations we set for the adults we serve. When we conflate self-sufficiency with living and thriving, we set a floor and call it a ceiling. When we talk about a living wage without defining what “living” actually requires, we let the hard questions go unanswered.
Here are the three terms, defined clearly and honestly:
Self-Sufficiency
Defined by the Texas Workforce Commission as “the minimum employment earnings necessary to meet a family’s basic needs while maintaining self-sufficiency.” In theory, it is the wage point at which an individual or household no longer requires public assistance.
Living Wage
MIT defines it as “employment earnings that a full-time worker requires to cover or support the costs of their family’s basic needs where they live.” In Central Texas, that wage is close to what the City of Austin pays its employees and to what the MIT Living Wage Calculator estimates for a single adult or a family living here.
Thriving Wage
Defined by Literacy Coalition as the wage for individual adults and families to thrive in Central Texas. Adults and families have enough not only to cover the basics, but also to build a future. They can cover emergencies, contribute to savings, and still have room for special nights out, vacations, and the small joys that make life worth living. A thriving wage does more than keep the lights on. Thriving wages create stability, dignity, and the opportunity to build household wealth.
What the Terminology Means
Texas’s minimum wage remains $7.25 per hour, unchanged since 2009. A wage no Texan in our ten-county area can build a stable life on.1 The TWC average self-sufficiency wage of $17.55 per hour marks the point where a household can meet basic needs without public assistance. MIT’s living wage estimate of $21.35 per hour represents a step up from the TWC self-sufficiency wage.2 The Literacy Coalition wanted to understand what individuals and families in Central Texas actually need to make the transition from survival to economic living. What the data shows may surprise you, as the benchmarks are significantly higher across our ten-county region.
What our data reveals is both striking and sobering. Despite its name, the TWC self-sufficiency wage does not cover basic needs for individuals or families in any of our ten Central Texas counties. A single adult earning the average self-sufficiency wage of $17.55 per hour still finishes the year in the red in every county, with no savings, no health insurance, and no margin for the unexpected. Families face an even steeper shortfall, with the average shortfall across counties exceeding $4,000 annually.
The MIT living wage gets closer. However, some counties still struggle. Individuals still fall short in all ten counties. Families reach a positive balance in only two counties, Blanco and Williamson.
The thriving wage is where the math finally works. Across all ten counties, for individuals and families alike, the thriving wage covers basic needs, builds savings, and leaves room to actually live, not just survive. The average thriving wage across our ten-county region is $26.07 per hour for a single adult. That is $8.52 more per hour than the self-sufficiency wage and over $17,000 more per year.
Literacy Coalition broke it all down, county by county, dollar by dollar, in three companion articles.
Literacy Is How You Climb the Wage Ladder
Adult literacy is not a rung on a ladder. It is the engine that powers the climb.
The stronger an adult’s literacy skills in reading, writing, numeracy, digital fluency, financial knowledge, health literacy, and career success are, the more opportunities are available. Adult literacy does not cap what someone can earn, but removes the ceiling.
Adults with strong foundational literacy move through workforce training more successfully. They understand their pay stubs, their benefits, and their options. They can advocate for themselves in the workplace, pursue advancement, and recognize opportunities when they arise. These adults are not just employable. They are promotable. Adults with literacy skills build their futures. That is why investing in adult literacy is not a charitable act. It is an economic one.
Talking the Same Language
So, do we talk the same language in those presentations, meetings, and impact reports? Not exactly, but we can get on the same page. In Central Texas, self-sufficiency and living wages are connected, but not interchangeable.
Self-sufficiency is not enough, and a living wage gets adults and families closer, but a thriving wage is the economic goal for all adults and families in Central Texas. For adults with low literacy skills, the path forward is access to literacy tools that enable advancement. The goal is not simply to help adults survive, but to help them move up the ladder toward stability, opportunity, and a future that lasts. One that strengthens the Central Texas economy and Texas as a whole.
Footnotes:
1 The ten-county area includes: Bastrop, Blanco, Burnet, Caldwell, Fayette, Hays, Lee, Llano, Travis, Williamson.
2 This average wage data was taken in July 2026 from the Texas Workforce Commission(Labor Market and Career Information) and the MIT Living Wage Calculator (Living Wage Calculator).
Explore the Wage Articles
By Lisa M. Stewart, MBA, CAE | CEO, Literacy Coalition of Central Texas
Literacy Coalition of Central Texas | literacyctx.org | 512-326-8655
This article is part of the “Literacy Pulse” quarterly series.
© 2026 Literacy Coalition of Central Texas. All rights reserved.