Dimensions
Housing
Every person should have access to safe and affordable housing. Unfortunately, housing is the largest single expense for millions of people: more than one-third of all people in the United States are burdened by housing costs. When families spend 30 percent or more of their income on rent, mortgage, and utilities, there is too little left for other necessities such as food, health care, child care, and savings, leaving them economically insecure.
The Family Economic Well-Being Index classifies housing burden based on the percentage of household income people spend on rent or mortgage plus utilities:
| Burden category | Threshold |
|---|---|
| Severely burdened | More than 50 percent |
| Moderately burdened | 30-50 percent |
| Getting by | 20-29 percent |
| Comfortably meeting needs | Less than 20 percent |
Overall in the United States:
- 13 percent of people are severely housing burdened
- 20 percent of people are moderately housing burdened
- 23 percent are getting by in their housing needs
- 43 percent are comfortably meeting their housing needs
Other key findings from the Family Economic Well-Being Index about housing include:
- More than 1 in 3 children live in housing-burdened households, including 12 percent who are in severely housing-burdened households.
- Housing burden falls sharply by income quintiles, from 70 percent in the bottom fifth to 9 percent in the top fifth. Even among the upper middle class, nearly 1 in 5 are housing burdened.
- More than half of all renters are housing burdened, regardless of where they fall on the income spectrum. Nearly one-third of all homeowners with a mortgage are housing burdened, while only 12 percent of homeowners without a mortgage are housing burdened.
- About 43 percent of Black households and 40 percent of Latino households experience severe or moderate housing burden, compared with 29 percent of white households.
Food
For health and well-being, everyone should be able to access affordable, nutritious food. If families struggle to meet basic nutritional needs, that can affect children’s development, health, and long-term economic stability.
The Family Economic Well-Being Index classifies food burden based on the percentage of household income families spend on a minimally nutritious diet:
| Burden category | Threshold |
|---|---|
| Severely burdened | More than 30 percent |
| Moderately burdened | 18-30 percent |
| Getting by | 12-17 percent |
| Comfortably meeting needs | Less than 12 percent |
Overall in the United States:
- 12 percent of people are severely food burdened
- 20 percent of people are moderately food burdened
- 23 percent are getting by in their food needs
- 46 percent are comfortably meeting their food needs
Other key findings from the Family Economic Well-Being Index about food include:
- Forty-four percent of children experience food burden, despite making up only 22 percent of the total population. This is a significantly higher rate than any other age group: 28 percent of working age adults experience food burden, and 27 percent of seniors.
- Unlike the other dimensions, food burden drops sharply with income, falling from 96 percent among people in the bottom income quintile to just 6 percent among people in the middle income quintile, and to nearly 0 percent in the top income quintile, leaving those with the lowest income levels the most food burdened. This sharp decline happens because the Index relies on a standardized budget for basic groceries, the USDA Low-Cost Food Plan. While we adjust this budget based on a family’s age makeup and local grocery prices, the basic cost of feeding a household stays relatively flat regardless of how much they earn. As a result, a family’s income is the single biggest factor in whether they are burdened by food costs.
- Food cost burden falls hardest on Latino and Black individuals — at 46 percent and 45 percent, they face nearly double the rate of white individuals (24 percent).
Health care
Every family should be able to afford the care they need to stay healthy. Yet more than 2 in 5 people in the United States are burdened by health care costs. When those costs consume 10 percent or more of a household’s income, they can prevent families from meeting their health needs, maintaining their ability to work, caring for loved ones, and pursuing economic opportunities such as changing jobs or returning to school.
The Family Economic Well-Being Index classifies health care cost burden based on the percentage of household income families spend on healthcare costs:
| Burden category | Threshold |
|---|---|
| Severely burdened | More than 17 percent OR someone in the household is uninsured and below 500 percent of the official poverty line |
| Moderately burdened | 10-17 percent |
| Getting by | 7-10 percent |
| Comfortably meeting needs | 7 percent or less |
Overall in the United States:
- 26 percent of people are severely health burdened
- 15 percent of people are moderately health burdened
- 13 percent are getting by in their health care needs
- 46 percent are comfortably meeting their health care needs
Other key findings from the Family Economic Well-Being Index about healthcare include:
- Of the 26 percent of people who are severely burdened, 14 percent are severely burdened because they have a member of their household who is uninsured. The other 12 percent are severely burdened because they spend more than 17 percent of their income on health care costs.
- Seniors have the highest overall burden at 50 percent compared to 40 percent of working age adults and 36 percent of children.
- Latino individuals experience the highest overall burden (49 percent) compared to Black (39 percent), white (39 percent), Asian (36 percent), and Other Races (38 percent). Latino individuals are most likely of any major racial or ethnic group to be severely burdened due to an uninsured household member (31 percent).
- Health care burdens are highest in the South. Texas and Mississippi have the highest health care burdens, with 50 percent of their residents experiencing a health care burden, compared to 20 percent in Washington DC, the lowest health care burden rate in the country. Texas and Mississippi’s health care burdens are followed closely by Oklahoma (49 percent), Alabama (48 percent), and Georgia (48 percent). With the exception of Oklahoma, none of those highest burden states have expanded Medicaid.
Child Care
Child care connects parents’ ability to work with children’s ability to thrive. Among families with young children, child care is one of the heaviest cost burdens of all. Sixty-one percent of households with a child under 6 are burdened by child care costs. And the burden barely eases as income rises.
The Family Economic Well-Being Index assumes that families require center-based child care for children aged 12 or younger. It classifies child care cost burden based on the percentage of household income required to meet these costs:
| Burden category | Threshold |
|---|---|
| Severely burdened | More than 14 percent, even when reducing child care costs based on a parent working less than full-time |
| Moderately burdened | 7–14 percent, even when reducing child care costs based on a parent working less than full-time |
| Getting by | Less than 7 percent when reducing child care costs based on a parent working less than full-time |
| Comfortably meeting needs | Less than 7 percent of household income without reducing child care costs based on a parent working less than full-time |
Overall in the United States:
| Burden level | Percent of total population who are… | Percent of households with children under 6 who are… |
|---|---|---|
| Severely burdened | 13 | 40 |
| Moderately burdened | 9 | 20 |
| Getting by | 10 | 31 |
| Comfortably meeting needs | 6 | 8 |
Other key findings from the Family Economic Well-Being Index about child care burden for families with young children include:
- Child care burdens affect families across the income spectrum:
- In the bottom income quintile, 52 percent of families are burdened
- In the middle income quintile, 69 percent of families are burdened
- In the highest income quintile, 48 percent of families are burdened
- Black families are most burdened by child care — 71 percent of Black Americans in families with young children face a child care burden. 59 percent of white and Latino Americans in families with young children face a child care burden.
- Regardless of whether you rent or own, if you’re in a family with young children then you’re likely to face a child care burden — 63 percent of renters in a family with young children face a child care burden, as do 60 percent of homeowners with a mortgage.
- There is no state in which fewer than half of people in families with young children face a child care burden.
Cost Burdens by Age
Percent of people living in a household experiencing cost burdens, by age group.
Cost Burdens by Race and Ethnicity
Percent of people who are severely burdened, burdened, or getting by for the selected cost dimension, by race and ethnicity.
Cost Burdens by Income Quintile
Percent of people who are severely burdened, burdened, or getting by for the selected cost dimension, by income quintile.
Cost Burdens by Housing Tenure
Percent of people who are severely burdened, burdened, or getting by for the selected cost dimension, by housing tenure.
Cost Burdens by State
Percent of people who are severely burdened, burdened, or getting by for the selected cost dimension, by state.
Compounding Burdens
People facing multiple burdens across the Family Economic Well-Being Index face a fundamentally different level of economic insecurity than those managing just one. Looking at how burdens compound across the different dimensions of the Family Economic Well-Being Index illustrates how a siloed approach to addressing family economic security fails to account for how families actually experience financial hardship. One in 6 Americans experience three or more burdens, and nearly 1 in 4 experience two burdens. Programs that address a single dimension, such as housing assistance or food assistance alone, may still leave a person facing two or three other burdens at the same time. Since burdens compound, policy responses need to build on one another as well. Integrated policies that span multiple dimensions are better positioned to address the compounding burdens people face.
Overall in the United States:
- 32 percent of people in the United States experience one burden
- 22 percent of people in the United States experience two burdens
- 16 percent of people in the United States experience three or more burdens
- 71 percent of Americans experience at least one burden
Other key findings from the Family Economic Well-Being Index about how burdens compound across the four dimensions include:
- Children are the most likely to experience a burden of any age group.
- Eighty-one percent of children experience at least one burden, and one in four children experience three or more burdens.
- Sixty-eight percent of adults experience at least one burden. Only 15 percent of working age adults and 12 percent of seniors experience three or more burdens, compared to 25 percent of children.
- Latino Americans are the most likely to experience at least one burden, at 81 percent. They are closely followed by Black Americans, 78 percent of whom experience at least one burden. Sixty-six percent of white Americans experience at least one burden.
- Latino and Black Americans are also most likely to experience three or more burdens, at 26 and 23 percent, respectively. Twelve percent of white Americans experience three or more burdens.
- The likelihood of experiencing economic burdens falls dramatically with income. Almost everyone in the bottom income quintile–99 percent–experiences at least one burden, and one in two experience three or more burdens. In contrast, 30 percent of people in the top income quintile experience at least one burden, and zero percent of them experience three or more burdens.