>>530983I've only watched up to like season 3 or 4 so idk if there's more lore revealed later but from what I've seen I think between living very frugally and the occasional bout of gainful employment and working odd jobs he gets by. His living situation is pretty grim, he's under a rock that is furnished with only the bare essentials if anything at all and half the time those items are made out of sand so one can assume it costs him close to nothing. If not for the fact that he has utilities I would assume he's squatting. Besides that what commodities is he buying other than food? When left to his own devices he seems to spend his time sunbathing and hunting jellyfish. There are a few episodes where he's gainfully employed and when he and Spongebob sell chocolate the episode ends with him pushing a wheelbarrow full of money around so it's not like he's never making an income. That said if I was to choose between the two suggestions you raised I'd lean towards being on welfare, he seems to be largely estranged from his parents
>>531058Mr. Krabs is just a massive cheapskate who hoards money rather than spending it. Evidence of him beings rich are his preppy and spoiled daughter, the episode where he earns his millionth dollar and there's plenty of instances where he's seen with huge sums of money. When he does spend it's for the sake of earning more money, such as when he opened up a second Krusty Krab right next to the first one or when he turned the restaurant into a luxury hotel. Finally there's an episode where Squidward quits his job and quickly becomes destitute so I think that refutes the notion that Bikini Bottom is a socdem paradise