via Radio Iowa with additional information from KROS NEWS
A new study released this morning concludes 37% of Iowa households could not afford to pay monthly bills that cover the basic necessities of life in 2016. The report identified 12% of Iowans living below the poverty line and another 25 percent of working Iowans living paycheck-to-paycheck. (links included to local data included)
Shane Orr, executive director of United Way of Muscatine, is chairman of the United Ways of Iowa board of directors, the group that commissioned the report. “Sadly, there is no single solution to fix the challenges that so many in Iowa face,” Orr said during a conference call with reporters. “The challenges are complex and interwoven. However, armed with the information from this report, everyone can make more informed decisions.”
Iowans who are identified as “income constrained” live in both urban and rural Iowa.
In Clinton County the report shows there were 19,871 households considered. There were 13 percent in poverty and 25 percent under the study’s threshold to make 38 percent under the ALICE budget. In the city of Clinton there were 11,093 households. Fifteen percent were considered under the poverty level with another 28 percent under the study’s level to make 43 percent under the group’s necessities budget.
Other communities in Clinton County below the budget level included Calamus at 34%; Camanche at 38%; Charlotte with 34%; DeWitt at 36%; Delmar at 36%; Grand Mound at 27%; Lost Nation at 35% and Wheatland at 39% under the level. See County pages link below for further details
For a household of 2 adults, one child and one infant the Clinton County survival budget was about $57,000 and for a single adult it was about $19,000 to afford the basic necessities.
Stephanie Hoopes, the former Rutgers University professor who did the research said “This basic household budget that we measure is the bare minimum of housing, child care, food, transportation, health care and the bare minimum cell phone plan because there are the things you need to live and work in the modern economy in Iowa.”
Those costs increased 26% for a single adult and 41% for a family of four. “That is much faster than the rate of inflation, which during that period was nine percent,” Hoopes said.
In 2010, about 18% of Iowa households with a working adult were living paycheck to paycheck. The updated report indicates that increased to 25% by 2016. “We’re actually hearing some really good economic indicators right now: low unemployment, increased productivity, the stock market’s booming,” Hoopes said, “…and yet there’s something else going on.” Hoopes said working Iowans who are employed, but have few assets and little to no savings are “one emergency away from falling into poverty.”
Link: Iowa Data-Local Data Available
Link: Iowa County Pages (Clinton County pages 45-46)
Link: Full Iowa Report
Link: Data By State
Link: Full Report
