ALICE creates a view of life in America

I recently stumbled on ALICE – Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed at United for ALICE.

Of the 132,530,794 households in the U.S. in 2023…

• 13% earned below the Federal Poverty Level (FPL)
• 29% were ALICE, in households that earned above the FPL but not enough to afford the basics in the communities where they live
• Together, 42% of households in the U.S. were below the ALICE Threshold(poverty + ALICE divided by total households)

So what is ALICE? it is a market basket approach to measuring social welfare.

The ALICE Household Survival Budget is the bare minimum cost of household basics necessary to live and work in the current economy. These basic budget items include housing, child care, food, transportation, health care, and technology, plus taxes and a contingency fund (miscellaneous) equal to 10% of the household budget. The budget is calculated separately for each county and for different household types and is updated as costs and household needs change over time.¹[italics added]

This is similar to the market basket approach found in American Compass’s Costs of Thriving Index (COTI).²

ALICE is calculated for every county in the US.

For my current home county, Palm Beach County in Florida, the 2023 data is:

2023 Point-in-Time-Data Population: 1,533,801

Number of Households: 605,132

Median Household Income: $84,921 (state average: $73,311)

Labor Force Participation Rate: 60% (state average: 60%)

ALICE Households: 35% (state average 34%)

Households in Poverty: 11% (state average 13%)³

Or, for my old hometown Hudson, NY’s county, Columbia County:

2023 Point-in-Time-Data Population: 61,245

Number of Households: 26,098

Median Household Income: $83,619 (state average: $82,095)

Labor Force Participation Rate: 59% (state average: 63%)

ALICE Households: 27% (state average 33%)

Households in Poverty: 11% (state average 14%)⁴

Another market basket approach can be found at the MIT Living Wage Calculator, which bases its calculations on “…. eight basic needs – food, childcare, health care, housing, transportation, civic engagement, broadband, and other necessities – that make up the cost components of the living wage, with an additional cost associated with income and payroll taxes.” Similarly, you can see the living wage for a number of different household sizes and compositions.