SAN DIEGO -- Nearly one-third of households in San Diego County have incomes below what is needed to meet the basic cost of living, according to a study released Thursday.

The study, by the Center on Policy Initiatives and United Way of San Diego, found that 229,195 non-retiree households in the county earn less than what is deemed a "self-sufficiency" level.

The study measured local costs of housing, child care, food and other basic expenses to determine a minimum budget for families of various sizes, according to CPI.

A single person with no dependents would need a full-time job paying at least $13.13 an hour, or $27,733 a year, to meet basic expenses, according to the study. A family consisting of two adults and two children would need to make $64,957 annually to meet the self-sufficiency level.

"I would like to take a vacation. I would like to go out with my wife," said Chula Vista resident Jose Paniaguas.

But taking his wife to dinner is an expense he just cannot afford.

"I'm working 12 to 16 hours a day," he said.

Paniaquas is working six days a week as a mechanic bringing in $24,000 a year. It is a wage he said he and his wife can barely survive on.

"I need money to pay for food, insurance, gas, the mortgage," he said.

He almost lost his 800 sq. ft. home before his daughters moved in to share the mortgage. Six people now live in his two-bedroom home.

According to the study, Paniaguas would have to make $36,555.10 a year to support himself and his wife in San Diego, yet his $24,000 income is far above the federal poverty line of $14,366 for two adults in one household.

"San Diego is a whole different world and we have to look at our wages separate from minimum standard set by the federal government," said Jason Everitt, policy analyst for CPI.

"... 229,000 families who are struggling on a day to day basis, having to decide between putting food on the table or buy medicine for the kids," said CPI Analyst Murtaza Baxamusa.