1 in 2 Florida households struggles to make ends meet, minorities find it even tougher

Nearly half of Florida households are employed but struggling to make ends meet, according to a report by United Way that highlights the financial pressures on Floridians.

Based on data from the U.S. Census and Federal Reserve, researchers found that, of the 8.8 million households in the state, 4 million were either in poverty or unable to afford basic living costs in 2022, with many not qualifying for public assistance.

A key insight from the report was that minority households struggled the most, with 60% of Black and 52% of Latino households in Florida below what the United Way calls the ALICE threshold — an acronym that stands for asset limited, income constrained and employed.

Low-wage workers such as cashiers, cooks, and security guards are among those most likely to struggle.

The study highlighted how the ALICE threshold has evolved in the last few years, especially through the pandemic:

"While the COVID-19 pandemic brought employment shifts, health struggles, and school/business closures, it also spurred temporary expansion of public assistance through pandemic relief measures (which then reverted to pre-pandemic levels in 2022). In 2019, 3,639,583 households in Florida were below the ALICE Threshold; by 2022, that number had changed to 4,056,220."

When looking into average household necessities, researches found that from 2021 to 2022, the minimum cost of household necessities for a single adult in Florida increased from $28,344 to $30,084, while a family of four's minimum cost rose from $66,324 to $81,120.

Other insights from the study, as reported by The Tampa Bay Times, include:

• Families in the state struggled to pay basic items such as food, car payments and medical expenses.
• Most low-paying jobs saw an increase in their wages, with median retail sales pay in Florida increasing to $14.03 in 2022, but "wage increases ... were not enough to make up for years of falling behind."
• Child care remained one of the largest costs. "Provider shortages and lack of affordable care present fewer options for parents," the report reads.
• Almost half of Black and Latino cash-constrained families in Florida went without health care because they couldn't afford it.