Chelsea Jia Feng/BI
- ALICE is an acronym for a group of Americans who are asset-limited, income-constrained, and employed.
- Most ALICEs earn too much to qualify for government assistance but not enough to afford daily life in the US.
- Their existence points to a gap in how the US measures who's struggling economically.
Imagine making just enough money at your job that you don't qualify for food stamps or disability payments, but not enough to afford rent and healthcare. That would make you an ALICE.
ALICEs — or Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed — is a term coined by United Way's United For ALICE program to describe Americans who work and make more than the Federal Poverty Level for a family of four of $31,200, or $15,060 for an individual, but who struggle to pay for basic needs.
Many ALICEs are workers whose wages typically aren't enough to cover their bills, meaning they live paycheck to paycheck. Some are forced to sacrifice rent payments for food or childcare for medical appointments.
About 29% of US households are ALICE, while 13% are below the Federal Poverty Level, according to United For ALICE's calculations using data from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey and United Way's estimates for how much a family needs to get by.
Many government initiatives have tried to help people rise out of poverty. Still, as Stephanie Hoopes, national director at United For ALICE, told BI, the Federal Poverty Level is outdated in many ways, as it doesn't account for regional differences and the changing proportion of people's budgets that go to food. Hoopes also said that less attention is paid to assisting those who are better off financially but still can't invest in their futures.
For the most part, poverty shares across the US have been falling — something that, on its face, seems like good news for American workers. And while those measures might reach the most financially distressed Americans, the benefit cut-offs leave behind the still-precarious group of ALICEs.
But the share of ALICEs has been rising across the country over the last decade or so, with pandemic boom states like Montana and Idaho seeing big jumps. That comes as many Americans' earnings increased but may not have kept pace with skyrocketing inflation and housing prices.
The prevalence of ALICEs might point to an economic issue undergirding what looks like a robust labor market: Americans are increasingly falling between the cracks of affluence and assistance, and policy isn't rising to meet them. It's a marked contrast to the pandemic-era stimulus that eradicated qualifications for different types of aid and provided direct stimulus.
"It's hard to get in data the frustration, the stress, the ongoing day in day out, having to make some really bad choices," Hoopes said. "Are you going to get the medicine for your kid, or are you going to have dinner tonight? Are you going to keep the electricity on? Are you going to go to childcare?"
Fewer Americans are in poverty, but more are ALICEs
To qualify for SNAP, for instance, families must have an income below about 138% of the Federal Poverty Level, meaning a family of four must have a gross income below $39,000.
For Supplemental Security Income, which provides benefits for Americans with disabilities, the cutoff for individuals is usually $23,652 from yearly wages. Some state-to-state benefits are often available to individuals and families earning 200% to 250% of the Federal Poverty Level.
United For ALICE found that inflation has hit those households even harder than the typical American. The Consumer Price Index, one of the main measures of inflation in the US, includes many goods and services that ALICEs aren't buying frequently, such as dinners out, sports gear, or concert tickets.
United For ALICE developed the ALICE Essentials Index that more closely tracks the survival budget for lower-income households. When measuring inflation for just basic expenditures, the ALICE Essentials Index has increased faster than CPI. Simultaneously, over the last 12 years, ALICEs have been falling behind on wage increases.
"Some of our calculations showed that falling behind like that, just buying the same thing every year, ALICE would've had to work another whole year just to afford those things over that time period," Hoopes said.
And the rise in ALICEs is unevenly felt.
"There is a disproportionate impact on Black and Hispanic households, people with disability, younger and older households are more likely to be below the ALICE threshold, as are single-parent households with children versus married parent," Hoopes said.
Indeed, many Americans aren't necessarily falling into poverty, but they are increasingly teetering toward becoming ALICEs. Hoopes said that it's a label increasingly resonating with workers.
"When we present, I'll get people coming up afterward and say, thank you for explaining why I'm having a hard time. I thought that I was the problem," Hoopes said. "Yet here, there's a structural explanation and so it does hit people in a very real way."
That comes as the share of Americans above the ALICE threshold dropped in almost every state from 2010 to 2021, with the exception of states like Florida and Utah — both of which attracted an influx of wealthier coastal residents during pandemic migrations.
The prevalence of ALICEs might be part of the reason that Americans don't feel rosy about good economic data — and it also pokes holes in the stereotypes around who, exactly, is struggling in the US.
"People have a lot of stereotypes about who that is, and it's folks who are lazy or not trying hard. Our data shows here's the costs, and here's what jobs pay, and most of those jobs don't pay enough to cover the costs," Hoopes said. "It's a mathematical equation and it's a structural problem. It's not that folks aren't trying hard."
Are you making above the poverty line but still struggling to afford daily life? Contact these reporters at nsheidlower@businessinsider.com and jkaplan@businessinsider.com.