In California in 2023, the median hourly wage for illegal immigrant was $18. If both parents are working off the books at $18 per hour, their actual household income would be around $74,880 per year.
Here’s the calculation:
$18 per hour × 40 hours per week = $720 per week per person.
$720 × 52 weeks = $37,440 per year per person.
For two parents, that totals $74,880 annually.
Now, if those same parents report an income of $20,000 to qualify for benefits, they could receive government assistance as follows: roughly $9,000 to $11,000 per year in SNAP (food benefits), about $6,600 in Medicaid coverage for two children, and an additional $1,000 to $2,000 through WIC if the children are under five. That totals approximately $16,000 to $20,000 per year in benefits, not including housing, TANF cash assistance, free school lunches, or energy subsidies.
This means a family earning nearly $75,000 in unreported income could still receive an additional $16,000 to $20,000 in government aid, all while paying no taxes, no Social Security, and no payroll deductions. But hold your outrage. It gets worse. These families are working illegally, meaning they are not paying income tax, Social Security, or any other deductions, nor are they filing tax returns.
A family earning $75,000 legally would take home about $64,000 after taxes. Meanwhile, an illegal immigrant family earning the same $75,000 but reporting only $20,000 in income could receive an additional $16,000 to $20,000 in benefits. This gives them a total of roughly $91,000 to $95,000 in combined income and benefits.
In other words, the undocumented family ends up with about $27,000 to $31,000 more in total resources, around 46 percent more, than a legal family earning the same amount.
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