Nearly 29,000 working households across Berrien, Cass, and Van Buren counties earned above the federal poverty level in 2024 but still made too little to cover the basics, according to new data released this week by the United Way of Southwest Michigan.
The United Way’s Zack East tells us the annual ALICE report uses U.S. Census Bureau information to take a snapshot of how those in the “Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed” class are faring.
East says people in the ALICE category do struggle, but there are fewer programs to help them than there are for those living below the poverty line. The United Way uses the ALICE data to determine how it can help those working households. It often comes down to helping them weather surprise expenses.
“Like an unexpected car repair or the inability to make a mortgage or a rent payment one month because maybe they’ve had a high insurance bill or a visit to the hospital or the kids needed clothes for school,” East said.
East says the latest ALICE report covers data from 2024, so recent trends like inflation may not be reflected. He suspects the current situation for ALICE is worse.
“If it gets really hard to deal with housing, food, transportation, and other things that we have been talking deeply about in our own community, and then the economic challenges come along, those are exacerbated for people, certainly in poverty, but definitely for people in the ALICE community.”
When ALICE households are combined with those living in poverty, the full count of households that can’t afford the basics climbs to nearly 45,000, about 38% of the region. East says in Berrien County in 2024, about 15,500 households were ALICE, while in Cass it was 5,700, and in Van Buren County, it was about 7,500.
The biggest problem facing ALICE right now is the rising cost of living relative to wages, something East says the United Way is aiming to help them overcome.
You can learn more at UnitedForALICE.org/Michigan.
