Economy

Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20260610181159/https://www.npr.org/2026/06/10/nx-s1-5847681/nearly-half-of-u-s-families-couldnt-afford-basic-necessities-in-2024-report-finds

Report in question is Brookings Institute's States of Affordability: A series on where and why US households struggle to make ends meet (arc)

To help state and local policymakers understand the unique mix of affordability challenges in their communities—and develop more informed, targeted, and structural solutions to address them—this report introduces a standardized measure of affordability that can be applied across place and race. Our findings confirm a challenging economic reality, in which millions of people across the country are struggling to cover the cost of necessities on their current income, or what we refer to as “making ends meet.”

• In 2024, 45.5% of U.S. households did not earn enough to make ends meet.
• In nearly every year since 2014, more than 40% of American households struggled to make ends meet.
• The share of households making ends meet declined by 10 percentage points after the COVID-19 pandemic.
• In 2024, 55% of households of color could not afford to make ends meet.
• Nearly 38 million households could make ends meet if wages increased by $10 an hour, plus an additional 10 million households if costs decreased by $500 a month