JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A new report shows four out of ten Floridians are struggling to afford basic needs.
The Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed, or ALICE report, for 2024 shows the number of Floridians facing financial hardships continues to grow.
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The number of ALICE households in Florida has steadily been rising since 2010.
The number includes both people who fall below the federal poverty line and working-class Floridians who simply don’t make enough money to afford basic needs like housing, food, and transportation.
According to the updated 2024 ALICE report, 46% of Floridians are struggling to make ends meet.
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Melissa Nelson, President of the United Way of Florida, said generally in Florida, people making $20 or less an hour fall below the ALICE threshold.
“In Florida, we could easily refer to this group as the group of individuals who keep our economic engine humming,” Nelson said.
Nelson noted while the increase in Florida’s ALICE population may have only been one percent compared to last year, that increase represents roughly 300,000 households.
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“We’re talking over like two and a half million people in the State of Florida and like I said, those are people we know, we love, we work with, our kids sit next to at school,” Nelson said.
National Director of United for ALICE Stephanie Hoopes Ph.D. said Florida’s large service economy is partly behind the rising ALICE population.
“We are seeing the wages of many of those jobs increasing and we’re super excited about that, especially in Florida, but we’re also seeing those cost of living continue to increase,” Hoopes said.
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And Hoopes said the data in the ALICE report is a strong asset to lawmakers as they seek to craft policies to protect Florida’s hard-working, but financially vulnerable, population.
“You know what could be done to make housing more affordable, to bring down the cost of childcare, to make healthcare more affordable and more available,” Hoopes said.
Nelson noted there have been some recent state policy initiatives passed as a result of ALICE report findings, like making it easier to qualify for Florida KidCare health insurance and reducing the cost of day care.
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