ALICE: 39,433 Kalamazoo County Households Fall Below ALICE Threshold

Man stands in the rain with a yellow umbrella. Text reads: ALICE in the Crosscurrents: Covid and Financial Hardship in Michigan: Kalamazoo County.

KALAMAZOO COUNTY – The United Way network and research partner United for ALICE released its latest report in April, giving us our first look at ALICE data since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

ALICE is an acronym for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed — households that earn more than the Federal Poverty Level, but less than the basic cost of living for the county (the ALICE Threshold). Households below the ALICE Threshold — ALICE households plus those in poverty — can’t afford the essentials.

Pre-pandemic, there were 39,433 households in Kalamazoo County below the ALICE Threshold. Just two years later in 2021, that number jumped 10 percent to 43,320.

Kalamazoo County and ALICE By the Numbers in 2021

  • Population: 261,108
  • Households: 105,642 (2% change from 2019)
  • Median Household Income: $62,128 (state average: $63,498)
  • Labor Force Participation Rate: 65.5% (state average: 60.9%)
  • ALICE Households: 26% (state average 26%)
  • Households in Poverty: 15% (state average 13%)

To view more Kalamazoo County data, visit the Michigan County Reports page at https://www.unitedforalice.org/county-reports/michigan and choose Kalamazoo in the dropdown menu.

Read the full Michigan report at https://www.unitedforalice.org/state-overview/michigan.

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