Lubbock area ALICE families priced out of survival as COVID-19 hit

September 10, 2020 | Fox34

Almost half of all people in Lubbock don't have enough money to make ends meet, according to the United Way's ALICE report. 
 
It studies families who are "asset limited, income constrained and employed."
 
There are working families who are above the federal poverty line, but still live paycheck to paycheck. 
 
This include 18 percent of Lubbock's population living in poverty. 30 percent are considered "working poor." 
 
In Lubbock, with two kids, two parents would each have to make 16$ an hour to be considered "low income."
 
"So how do we get to those -- especially our larger employers locally -- and ensure that they're paying their people a competitive wage so that they can do what they can to live? Especially right now," Devin McCain, Community Impact Director with the Lubbock Area United Way, said. "A lot of our essential workers are gonna fall into this category, so that's our next step in figuring out how we can educate and then help people make ends meet."
 
The ALICE report considers the cost of housing, child care, food, transit, health care and a smart phone plan. Those are all based on the consumer price index. It finds between 2007 and 2018 the number of low wage jobs in Lubbock grew by 62 percent.
 
ALICE data for Lubbock County can be found - here. To learn about more numbers across the state, the entire report is available - here.