Not everyone is living their best lives in Naples or Fort Myers.
Forget the notion that locals in Collier County often dine out at fine restaurants and live in gated communities with perfectly manicured lawns.
A new report shows 42% of households in Collier County live paycheck to paycheck, according to the United Way of Collier and the Keys.
And that’s based on 2022 economic data before the steady creep of inflation which is further squeezing stretched-thin household budgets.
The situation is similar for families in Lee County, where 43% of households live paycheck to paycheck.
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“Across the board people are struggling more than they were two years ago,” said Tiffani Mensch, president and chief executive officer of United Way of Collier and the Keys.
The struggle has not let up
Some workers in the lowest-paying jobs across the U.S. saw their wages go up, but the number of households in Florida struggling grew by 190,000, according to data from the United Way.
The latest figure is that 4,056,220 households statewide are living paycheck to paycheck.
That’s 46% of the 8.8 million households in the state.
The information is from the nonprofit United for ALICE which collects data on critical social issues in 31 states and works in partnerships with United Way agencies to foster change.
ALICE is an acronym for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed, and is used as an alternative to the federal poverty level guidelines. It involves standardized measurements to quantify the cost of a basic household budget to show how many households struggle to get by.
Workers who fit the ALICE category include people in service industries, such as restaurant servers, yet also teachers and some nurses.
What is ALICE?
For a family of four, with an infant and a preschooler, the basic costs to live in Florida, or a household survival budget, in 2021 was $80,748 but it rose to $86,316 in 2022.
A “household survival budget” reflects the minimum cost to live and work in the current economy and includes housing, child care, food, transportation, health care, technology, and taxes. It does not include savings for emergencies or future goals like college or retirement.
The findings in the latest report based on 2022 data are consistent with a decades-long trend: The number of households that fall into the ALICE category has steadily gone up.
From 2010 to 2022, it grew by 27% and households living in poverty levels rose by 8%, according the nonprofit agency.
“Current policy has not been enough to break down the barriers that trap ALICE households into financial hardship, from lack of access to housing to childcare that’s affordable, to inadequate community supports such as broadband internet,” Stephanie Hoopes, national director of United for ALICE, said in a news release.
What’s the situation in Collier?
The report says 70,261 households in Collier are living paycheck to paycheck. That comes out to 42% of the 166,206 households in the county.
The median household income in Collier is $80,815.
A breakdown shows 53,999 households in Collier are considered ALICE households with incomes above the federal poverty limit but not pulling in enough money to survive in the current economy. In addition, people in the income range earn too much to qualify for assistance, Mensch said. Another 16,262 households in Collier are living in poverty.
What’s considered a survival budget that’s needed to make ends meet? The statewide figure is for a family of four is $86,316.
In Collier the report says it is $82,164 for a family of four but Mensch acknowledges that figure is too low.
The annual survival budget for a family of four in Collier is closer to $103,000 based on the reality of housing costs, she said.
The ALICE data uses the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s “fair market rent” at the 40th percentile, which is $1,273 a month for a family of four, while 60% of rentals are priced above that.
“The reality in our current housing environment is that housing at the 40th percentile is often not available, meaning ALICE households’ real costs are likely much higher than we see in the survival budget,” she said.
What about in Lee County?
The data shows 107,307 families are considered ALICE households while another 37,203 households live in poverty.
That comes to 43% of households living paycheck to paycheck, the data shows. All told there are 339,269 households in Lee.
The cost for a family of four each month to survive is $6,141 and annual income needed is $73,692.
The median income is $71,072, the data shows.
