PA ALICE Data Shows Highest Number of Working, Financially-Struggling Households Since 2010
Wage growth offset by stubborn inflation and the expiration of enhanced federal tax credits were some of the contributing factors to the highest numbers of households experiencing financial hardship in Pennsylvania in 2022. Though wages for the lowest paid jobs have risen across the country at the fastest rate in four decades, the number of households struggling to get by in Pennsylvania grew by more than 106,000, from 2021 to 2022. Since 2010, the year that measurement began, the number of working Pennsylvania households that were struggling to afford a basic needs budget increased a net of about 270,000 households. Data from 2022 depicts the highest number of households struggling to make ends meet, a total of more than 2.1 million households or 41%, according to a new update from United Way of Pennsylvania and its research partner United For ALICE.
Read more in our statewide press release, and check out the Pennsylvania ALICE data map for more information on your county.