by Jamil Ragland CTNewsJunkie
HARTFORD — About four in 10 families in Connecticut are struggling to make ends meet, according to a new report from the Connecticut United Way.
Titled The State of ALICE in Connecticut: 2025 Update on Financial Hardship, the report focuses on families in the state who often earn too much to qualify for federal assistance programs, yet still face financial hardship.
ALICE stands for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, and Employed. It is a measure of financial hardship developed by the United Way to describe the challenges that families who earn above the federal poverty line face.
Shawonda Swain, president and CEO of the Middlesex United Way, likened the situation to a financial storm.
“What’s striking is how the storm is spreading,” Swain said. “For decades people think hardship has been restricted to our cities. But today it’s moving to our suburban and rural towns as well. There are sharp increases in places like Chester and Lisbon and Easton and New Milford and Roxbury in the West. No corner of our state is untouched.
The report, which uses federal datasets from 2023, sets the ALICE household survival budget for a single adult at $38,184 annually, while it reaches $116,208 for a family of four with two adults, an infant, and a preschooler. The survival budget includes costs such as housing, child care, food, transportation, health care, and technology, plus taxes and a 10% miscellaneous category.
But 40% of Connecticut’s families earn less than the ALICE household survival budget, which works out to 581,000 households across the state. The number of families below the ALICE threshold increased by 13% from 2010 through 2023, according to the report. The number of families below the federal poverty line increased by 18% during the same time period.
State Rep. Kate Farrar, D-West Hartford, called on the legislature to pass a permanent, refundable child tax credit to help struggling families. She said while five bills were introduced with bipartisan support to institute the child tax credit, it was not ultimately included in any final legislation. She said there had been some progress, such as the additional $250 to residents who will receive the earned income tax credit and have a child.
“Tax relief is a crucial step forward,” she said. “But this amount of funds does not help so many of our families pay these high costs. We know, even with this EITC enhanced credit, that 355,000 families with children, they just earn too much to qualify for the EITC, but they also can’t make ends meet.”
Some of those people who are struggling shared their stories as they called on the state to fully fund 211, the state’s helpline. Meg Slater from Middletown described how in 2006 she suddenly became a single parent to her three year old daughter. Despite her college degree and working full-time, she still couldn’t make ends meet. She considered moving out of Connecticut until she reached out to 211.
“I was connected to resources that helped me apply for moderate income housing,” she said. “I gained childcare assistance and secured energy assistance to get through a pretty harsh winter.”
The temporary relief gave her the stability she needed to keep her job, care for her child and build a future in Connecticut, she said.
“Because of 211, I was able to stay,” she said. “That means 19 years of working, paying taxes, and contributing to our state’s economy, all because I had access to the right resources at the right time.”
Aubree Burnett of East Hartford shared a similar story of how 211 helped her not once, but twice. During the pandemic, Burnett fell into depression and alcoholism. She said a friend finally called 211 for her, and they were able to assist her with substance abuse treatment and therapy.
Later, when she learned she was pregnant, she contacted 211 again and learned about the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program and others.
“If it wasn’t for them and my best friend in the entire world calling 211, I wouldn’t be able to be here speaking,” she said. “I wouldn’t be able to advocate for some phone call but it’s so much more than that. It’s people that take the time every day to not only provide you with resources but to essentially hear you, to see you, to make you feel heard.”
Connecticut United Way President and CEO Lisa Tepper Bates said prices had risen in the two years since the latest data included in the report.
“The financial storm, some of it is already hitting and some of it is about to hit us,” she said. “So yes, it’s already harder than this report tells you. And it’s going to get harder still.”
Senate Republicans, in a written statement from Stephen Harding of Brookfield and Henri Martin of Bristol said the situation for ALICE residents was unlikely to change as long as Democrats control the Connecticut legislature.
“Connecticut continues to get more and more unaffordable for hardworking families,” the two wrote. “Does anyone see this crisis changing as long as Democrats are in charge at the State Capitol?”