This is a useful calculator from MIT. I thought the housing costs for Montana seemed too low compared to actual, but it does provide comparison between counties. Notice all the job categories of prevailing wages in the state that are printed in red.

Until Ronald Reagan the Republican party was always for increasing the minimum wage on a regular basis as cost of living increased. Interestingly, Nixon was a proponent of larger increases than his fellow Republican leaders. The debate each time among Republicans was not whether to increase minimum wage but rather how much to.

http://livingwage.mit.edu/states/30

I'm rich!

Besides my redundant revolutionary "Redistribution of Wealth" answer which seems to offend the empowered and those spoon-fed their collective illusion, the only thing I can offer to solve this dilemma is to Kill All Humans.

Thank you, Cindy. That was very informative.

Thank you. Very interesting County variations.