The median male U.S. worker now has to earn more than a year’s salary to afford the annual expenses for a family of four, as published in the Cost of Thriving Index and Business Insider. In 1985, the typical male worker needed 30 weeks’ pay to afford the $13,227 required for a family of four’s major living costs: housing, health care, transportation and education. As of 2018, those expenditures had risen to $54,441, meaning a typical male worker has to work 53 weeks (and there are only 52 weeks a year, as the lead author noted). The index is formulated on male earnings, which were historically considered the family breadwinners; a female earner would need to work 66 weeks in 2018 to afford the same costs.