The GOP bill in the Senate calls for another round of $1,200 checks. It is no surprise that San Diego is an expensive county to live in, so how far will these checks go?
"San Diego ranks pretty low on our list," said Erika Giovanetti at LendingTree. They surveyed people who received the last stimulus check and looked at the cost of living in major metropolitan areas. "San Diego's family of four makes about $121,000 per year, which puts their estimated monthly expenditure at $8,400."
Giovanetti says their survey found that checks would cover less than half of a family's expenses in San Diego and the surrounding cities. Still, that money will be very helpful with living expenses.
"Most people answered that they would use it to pay for groceries and other necessary expenses," Giovanetti said. "People have been relying on it mostly to help fill in the gaps."
The survey showed that while people in San Diego generally earn more money than other parts of the country, there is also a large income disparity.
"$1,200 means different things to different people," Giovanetti said. "(consider) the difference it would take for an essential worker who is required to be at work to earn $1,200 versus people working at home where it might not take them literally as much time to earn that."
The GOP bill has a few changes to their stimulus check program. In the CARES Act, you could only get money for a dependent who was 17 or younger. The HEALS Act would give an extra $500 for dependents of any age. That could help hundreds of families.
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"Out of eligible taxpayers, about four out of five qualified for the full stimulus check," Giovanetti said. "It really is a time where things are changing really fast and things are developing for people really quickly."
