Key Terms

Household Survival Budget: The bare-minimum costs of basic necessities (housing, child care, food, transportation, health care, and a smartphone plan).

ALICE Threshold: The average income needed to afford the Household Survival Budget. Households below the ALICE Threshold include both ALICE and poverty-level households.

ALICE: Households with income above the Federal Poverty Level but below the basic cost of living.

Poverty: Households earning below the Federal Poverty Level

Total Households: The number of households as reported by the American Community Survey.

Research Center

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Illinois

We all know people who are ALICE — Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed, Employed. ALICE workers educate our children, keep us healthy, and make our quality of life possible, yet do not earn enough to support their own families. ALICE households are forced to make tough choices, such as deciding between quality child care or paying the rent, which have long-term consequences not only for ALICE, but for all.

In order to better understand this growing population, United For ALICE provides a framework, language, statistics, and tools that community stakeholders can use to inform policy and drive innovation. The Research Center is the hub of UnitedForALICE.org — a one-stop source for exploring the latest ALICE data, on a national scale down to the local level in our partner states. Use the tabs below to navigate the Research Center.

Illinois

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Community Indicators

In most contexts, having a low income is associated with lower levels of education, higher rates of unemployment, and poorer health. Communities that have been able to disrupt these associations can provide important insights into how to change environments or policies to support ALICE households. Tracking relationships between ALICE households and other variables at the county level can also help stakeholders ask important questions and target resources where they can have the greatest impact.

ALICE and Community Indicators

Technical Details

In the scatterplot graph, all U.S. counties are marked and the counties in the state are highlighted in blue (click “Highlight State” to re-highlight, if needed). The vertical axis (y-axis) shows the percentage of households below the ALICE Threshold. The horizontal axis (x-axis) shows the value of the chosen indicator. Hover over any dot to see the name of the county, the percentage of households below the ALICE Threshold and the indicator value.

The relationship between the percentage of households below the ALICE Threshold and the chosen indicator can be seen using the slope and direction of the straight line that runs across the graph (the trend line). There are three basic ways that ALICE households and the selected indicator can be related:

They increase together: When the percentage of ALICE households increases, there is a corresponding increase in the indicator. The line slants upward from left to right. This shows a positive relationship (correlation) but not necessarily causation.
One increases while the other decreases: When the percentage of ALICE households increases, there is a corresponding decrease in the indicator. The line slants downward from left to right. This shows a negative relationship (correlation), but not necessarily causation.
There is no relationship: When the line is relatively flat, there is no relationship.

The cost of living is increasing for ALICE households.

The cost of household essentials (housing, child care, food, transportation, health care, a smart phone plan, and taxes) is rising faster than the cost of other goods and services.