Statistics on households earning more than the cost-of-living-adjusted poverty rate from the United Ways of California are now on RACECOUNTS.org. Based on the Real Cost Measure of poverty, these estimates account for local costs of housing, food, health care, childcare, transportation and other basic needs. It is a more accurate measure of financial security than the federal poverty measure.
Performance: Statewide, 66.3% of households earn more than the cost-of-living-adjusted poverty rate. Placer County has the highest percentage among counties, with 77.8% of its households earning more than the cost-of-living-adjusted poverty rate.
Disparity: In California, 76.2% of White households earn incomes above the cost-of-living-adjusted poverty rate, compared to 42.8% of Latinx households. Tulare County has the most racially disparate outcomes among counties with 70.2% of White households earning incomes above the cost-of-living-adjusted poverty rate, compared to 33.6% of Latinx households.
Impact: More than one in three households in California, over 3.8 million, struggle to meet basic needs. Roughly half of those households are Latinx (1.9 million). See the report Struggling to Stay Afloat: The Real Cost Measure in California 2019 for more details. Click here for data.