ALICE: A STUDY OF FINANCIAL HARDSHIP IN HAWAI‘I

News Release from AUW, January, 2018

ALICE families – an acronym for Asset Limited, Income, Constrained, Employed – have income above the Federal Poverty Level (FPL), but not high enough to afford a basic household budget that includes housing, child care, food, transportation and health care. ALICE households live in every community in Hawai‘i – urban, suburban and rural – and they include women and men, young and old, all races and ethnicities.

In Hawai‘i, there are 165,013 ALICE households (37% of total households), while another 47,066 households (11% of total households) live below the poverty level. In total, 48 percent of Hawai‘i households are ALICE and below.

ALICE includes our child care providers, retail salespersons, waitstaff, cashiers, administrative assistants, janitors, housekeepers, landscapers, teaching assistants, mechanics, restaurant cooks and more.

The racial and ethnic makeup of ALICE households mirrors the overall Hawai‘i population. At least 46 percent of households in each of Hawai‘i’s six primary racial/ethnic groups have income below the ALICE Survival Budget.

• More than one-third—37 percent—of senior households in Hawai‘i qualify as ALICE.
• 48 percent of Hawai’i families with children have income below the ALICE Survival Budget.
• Several demographic groups in Hawai‘i are at a higher risk of falling into the ALICE population and below. This includes women, LGBTQ+ people, those with a disability, younger veterans, formerly incarcerated individuals and immigrants facing language barriers, to name a few.

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