A Living Wage is the rate of hourly pay necessary to sustain basic household needs, such as shelter, food, etc.  It is typically calculated as the wage a full-time (40 hours/week, or 2080 hours/year) worker must work in order to adequately pay for needs at local costs.

Living wage ordinances are a legal mechanism by which local governments can set minimum wage requirements, usually attached to contracts with the city or other benefits provided to a private business. The Cities of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti each have living wage ordinances, as do Washtenaw County, Superior Township, and Ypsilanti Township. The pay rates included in these policies are typically updated annually to reflect cost-of-living (COL) changes.

Living wages vary from county to county within Michigan, and state to state across the U.S. in general.  In order to help track these metrics, the MIT Living Wage Project records and updates its calculations based on the yearly COL metrics that each state publishes each year. 

For Ann Arbor and Washtenaw County, the living wage for 2019 has been calculated at the following rates:

These metrics represent a +6.86% COL increase from 2018, the largest recorded in the last 4 years.  For context, since 2012 the COL in Washtenaw County has increased by an average of +5.65% year-over-year (or +39.52% for the 2012-2019 period).  In the same span of time, the standard rate of inflation of the U.S. dollar has only increased by a total of +10.84% - roughly +1.55% year-over-year.  While the minimum wage for the state of Michigan increased in that period (from $7.40 to $9.25, a +25% delta), this has failed to both keep pace with the above-calculated living wage, as well as what the federal minimum wage could effectively be had it been indexed to inflation at its point of greatest purchasing power (February 1968), where its $1.60/hr nominal value was the equivalent of $11.75/hr in December 2018 dollars. 

Local implementations

Ypsilanti's living wage ordinance, initially adopted in 1999, requires, as of 2012:

any person(s) receiving financial benefit from the City of Ypsilanti to pay their employees a living wage. Financial  benefit shall mean (1) any contract to primarily furnish services in the amount of $10,000, or  more, in any 12 month period, or (2) the receipt of grant money, financial assistance, or a tax abatement in the amount of $10,000, or more, in any 12 month period. ... Living Wage is defined as wages of $12.76 per hour when health care is not provided, and $10.88 per hour when health care is provided.

Washtenaw County's living wage ordinance, initially adopted in 2001, requires, as of 2012:

Employers who hold professional service or service contracts with Washtenaw County for a value of more than $10,000 in a twelve-month period of time must pay those employees performing work on a Washtenaw County contract the above living wage ... of $11.40 per hour if the employer provides health care benefits, $13.37 per hour if the employer does NOT provide health care benefits.

In the news

http://annarborchronicle.com/2012/11/08/nonprofit-can-gets-living-wage-exemption/

http://blog.mlive.com/annarbornews/2008/02/city_ponders_change_to_living.html

City council approves new living wage, Michigan Daily, March 6, 2001

Resources:

• MIT Poverty in America project: Living Wage Calculator
• City of Ypsilanti Living Wage Compliance Form
• Washtenaw County Resolution Adopting Living Wage Ordinance, 2001
• Superior Township Ordinance 160--Living Wage Ordinance, 2004
• Inflation Calculator updated and maintained by the U.S. Government