Updated data from the Urban Institute underscores what candidates and pollsters are hearing in Ohio and around the country: Average people are having a harder and harder time getting by.
Other measures, such as those of income fragility, also show widespread economic insecurity.
The Urban Institute this week updated 2023 research into the “true cost of economic security.”
The group used data from the U.S. Census Bureau and its own methodology to go past what the government officially considers to be poverty.
That’s a dire state to be in. A family of three would have to make less than $26,650 a year to fall below the official poverty line.
While important, that measure misses huge numbers of Americans who are also struggling. Even with government assistance, such a family couldn’t possibly meet average expenses.
According to the Urban Institute’s American Affordability Tracker, average rent, groceries, and day care for two in Ohio are more than $55,000 a year.
While not officially impoverished, a large swath of the population faces expenses beyond its means.
“Conventional measures of economic insecurity, like the poverty rate, only capture acute need and shed no light on the hardships of millions of people who struggle to pay their bills and save for the future — people who are economically insecure and not poised to thrive,” the report said.
“Without adequate data, policymakers cannot develop effective solutions to help their constituents and communities meet their economic challenges.”
So the Urban Institute used census data and its Analysis of Transfers, Taxes, and Income Security model to determine what economic security was and what percentage of families were earning it.
In Ohio, median annual cost for households in which everyone is younger than 65 is $130,000, but income is just $127,600. Just under half those households don’t make enough to be economically secure as defined by the Urban Institute.
The report’s findings might be of interest to politicians who want to help parents. That’s because when kids are involved, the numbers are worse.
Nationwide, 56% of households with kids fall below the security threshold. Forty four percent of families without kids did.
If a household is headed by a single parent, matters are even worse. Nearly 90% don’t earn enough to meet the security threshold, the report said.
In two-parent households with three or more kids, two thirds fall below the threshold.
The numbers are also bleak for households with an older person in need of care. In those, 75% don’t make enough to be economically secure.
And there are racial disparities.
Among non-Hispanic whites, 41% don’t make enough to be secure. Among Blacks and Hispanics, about 65% don’t.
In its report, the Urban Institute said the government needs to address the fact that so many families are having such a hard time getting by.
“Millions of Americans struggle to pay their bills, fear unexpected expenses, and are ill-prepared to weather job losses, sickness, and hazardous climate and environmental events,” it said.
“Many of these people are too often rendered invisible when narrow or inadequate measures of poverty drive public conversation and policy changes.”
Originally published by the Ohio Capital Journal. Republished here with permission.