42% of households in Coastal and Western CT earn incomes below the cost of living threshold.
ALICE families have been overlooked and undercounted by traditional poverty measures. ALICE is the nation’s child care workers, home health aides and cashiers heralded during the pandemic – those working low-wage jobs, with little or no savings and one emergency away from poverty.
In 2024, according to the Federal Poverty Level (FPL), 11% of Connecticut households were financially insecure. Yet this measure failed to account for an additional 28% of households that were also experiencing financial hardship. These households are ALICE: Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed — with income above the FPL, but not enough to afford basic expenses in the planning region where they live.
Between ALICE households and those living in poverty, an estimated 40% of households in Connecticut were below the ALICE Threshold in 2024. Households below the Threshold are forced to make impossible choices — like deciding whether to pay for utilities or a car repair, whether to buy food or fill a prescription.
2026 Update on Financial Hardship
Households below the ALICE Threshold are in every state and planning region across the U.S. and represent all demographic groups. Workers below the ALICE Threshold often perform the jobs that keep our economy functioning smoothly — they are child care providers, food service workers, cashiers, personal care aides, delivery drivers, and more. Their stories capture the systemic and structural barriers to financial stability, and the struggles and resilience of families experiencing financial hardship.
To read the ALICE report and access online, interactive dashboards that provide data on financial hardship at the state, county and local level, visit https://www.unitedforalice.org/introducing-ALICE/Connecticut.
