Nearly 1 in 2 of Broward County Households Can't Afford the Basics — Here’s How You Can Make a Difference

United Is the Way to Greater Stability for All

by Kathleen Cannon, LCSW, President and CEO at United Way Broward


You might assume with a median household income of $81,488, Broward County is doing pretty well. In some ways, it is, but beneath this number is a disturbing reality affecting nearly 50% of all households in our community — a reality that two new reports from United for ALICE and United Way of Florida bring into sharp focus.

The State of ALICE in Florida: 2026 Update on Financial Hardship and the accompanying ALICE County Report for Broward County offer a comprehensive picture of the financial struggles for people in Florida. These reports document how millions of households, including hundreds of thousands right here in Broward County, are working hard but still coming up short every month. These reports reflect the daily challenges of our neighbors, coworkers, and community members.

So what, or rather, who is ALICE? ALICE stands for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed. People in ALICE households earn more than the Federal Poverty Level, but not enough to afford the basic cost of living in their county. They are the cashiers, home health aides, construction workers, customer service representatives, and more who keep our economy running yet who struggle to cover rent, groceries, child care, and health insurance every single month.


One difficulty in understanding this crisis is the benchmark used to measure poverty hasn’t kept pace with reality. Designed in the 1960s, the Federal Poverty Level never has been meaningfully updated for today’s cost of living. It fails to account for local costs, household size, or the price of basics like child care and transportation. United Way’s ALICE initiative fills this gap with a rigorous study of what it costs to live and work in specific ZIP codes across the U.S.

United Way’s United for ALICE reveals our community is under serious financial pressure. Broward County is home to over 2 million people and over 750,000 households, and the data is both striking and unsettling:

  • 49% of Broward County households — nearly 1 in 2 — fall below the ALICE threshold, meaning they cannot afford the minimum cost of living. This figure is higher than the state average in Florida of 47%.
  • 36% of Broward households are ALICE (above the poverty line, but below basic survival costs), compared to the state average of 34%.
  • 13% live in poverty, slightly above the 12% state average.


To understand why these numbers are so high, it helps to look at the Household Survival Budget. In Broward County in 2024, a single adult needed to earn $45,108 annually or $22.55 per hour just to cover housing, food, transportation, health care, technology, and taxes. No savings. No money for emergencies. No extras.


The cost climbs sharply for families. For a household with two adults and two young children in child care, the annual budget spikes to $108,192, requiring a combined hourly wage of $54.10.


When you consider that Florida’s minimum wage in 2024 was $13 per hour — and that $20 per hour was not enough to support even a single adult with one child in 99% of Florida’s counties — the math simply does not work for the majority of working people in Broward County.


The hardship also is not evenly distributed. In Broward County. Single-female-headed households with children face a 77% rate of financial hardship. Householders under age 25 face a 78% rate. These numbers reflect both the crushing cost of child care and the structural inequities restricting financial mobility.

For more than 85 years, United Way Broward has been on the frontlines of systemic change — and our response to the ALICE crisis is mobilizing comprehensive support for vulnerable households across our community. Recognizing ALICE households are the backbone of Broward’s economy, United Way Broward delivers a wide range of programs targeting the causes of financial hardship.

  • Food security is one of our community’s urgent needs. United Way Broward’s Project Lifeline has distributed more than 18 million lbs. of food to over 7 million people throughout the county since 2009. In the past year alone, over 500,000 individuals and families were served — a powerful response to the food insecurity disproportionately affecting ALICE households.
  • United Way Broward addresses the full spectrum of ALICE needs. Our United for Housing provides cost-burdened residents with both immediate and long-term housing solutions, connecting families to rental assistance and affordable housing resources.
  • Our financial stability programs offer workshops and one-on-one coaching to help ALICE families manage budgets, reduce debt, and build long-term security.
  • Among the over 130 community-building programs we fund are programs ensuring access to healthcare — free or low-cost medical and mental health services for people who otherwise would not get the assistance they need.
  • Through our ReadingPals program and after-school care, children are supported so they don’t fall behind while their parents work.
  • And when a crisis hits, our partnership with the 211 Helpline connects families with emergency food assistance, utility support, and crisis intervention — often the helping hand between a person’s stability and homelessness.
  • Because lasting change for ALICE families requires systemic solutions, not just stopgap measures, our Public Policy Committee actively pushes for increased affordable housing, expanded behavioral health programs, and improved funding for education.


As stated, nearly 50% of Broward County’s households cannot afford to live in the community where they work. The latest ALICE data gives all of us the tools to understand this crisis clearly, and now we act on it with both extensive care and bold, coordinated efforts.


You too can be a part of the solution, and you don't have to be a policymaker or a nonprofit executive to make a difference. Here’s how you can get involved:


Please join us in helping everyone in our community rise and thrive. Because when ALICE households prosper, our entire community benefits.