California families are facing a rapidly mounting uphill battle to make enough money to provide basic household essentials, according to a new study conducted by the California Budget Project.

　　The research compiled by the Sacramento-based non-profit organization concluded an average two-parent family with one employed adult in California needs to make $51,177 a year, or $24.60 cents an hour, to pay for housing, transportation, food, utilities, child care, health coverage, taxes and other basic expenses.

　　The number grows significantly higher in the Bay Area, the state's most expensive region.A Bay Area family of four with two working adults living in rental housing needs a combined income of $79,946 to cover essential needs.That number is more than four times greater than the $19,157 income level recognized by the federal government as impoverished.

　　The study is the fourth semi-annual survey conducted by the California Budget Project since 1999. California Budget Project executive director Jean Ross said helping state officials and residents understand the numbers found in the report is crucial to moving families toward self-sufficiency.

　　"How should we be targeting some of our programs and policies? How much do young people need to earn and what kind of a job should they be looking to train for if they want to have that salary that can support a family?"

　　CBP said the project was based on actual costs or generally accepted fair standard prices based on weighted averages found in ten California regions.