Percent Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed (ALICE) Housholds
ALICE is a statistic developed for the United Way that estimates percent of households that have incomes above the official poverty line but cannot cover the minimal cost of five basic household necessities – housing, childcare, food, transportation, and health care.
ALICE numbers are updated every two years and in the most recent update (2018), 29% of all U.S. households were estimated to fall into the ALICE category (unable to meet basic household needs based on their income and the local cost of living).
Both Minnesota and Wisconsin have lower-than-average proportions of their population in the ALICE category.
Between one-in-five and one-in-four families in the St. Croix River Valley counties fall into the ALICE category.
There is little variation among the St. Croix River Valley counties in the proportion of their households classified as ALICE and all are similar to their state’s average.
Despite the relatively high household income levels in Wisconsin’s St. Croix River Valley counties, the proportion of families in these counties classified as ALICE tends to be higher than the state average.
Some of these counties (Pierce and St. Croix Counties) probably have somewhat higher than average cost of living while others (Burnett and Polk Counties) have somewhat higher proportions of families with more modest incomes.
There is no ALICE data available for Wisconsin and its counties for 2019.
Minnesota has, thus far, only participated in the ALICE program in 2018, so there are no time series data available for the state or its St. Croix River Valley counties.