this post was submitted on 10 Jun 2026
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Economy

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Nearly half of U.S. families couldn't afford basic necessities in 2024, report finds (www.npr.org)
submitted 3 days ago by gAlienLifeform@lemmy.world to c/economy@lemmy.world
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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
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[–] Mulligrubs@lemmy.world 15 points 3 days ago

It's uncanny, it's almost as if lower wages and increased costs affects earnings in some way.

[–] TommySoda@lemmy.world 11 points 3 days ago

I'm not even a family and I'm basically fucked right now. The good news is that I can skip on groceries every now and than because I was planning on losing weight anyway.

[–] sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 3 days ago

Wow thats... insanely bad, holy shit.

And I thought this was gonna be bad, real bad, once Trump started with the tariffs.

... we also have not even begun to feel anything close to the full inflationary effects on gas and food, from Hormuz being closed... that starts to get real bad in about 2 months.

[–] fireweed@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Finally, some good fucking ~~food~~ statistics

Way too many articles nowadays that assert that "over half of Americans blah blah blah" and then provide no additional numbers.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

For myself im not going without basic necessities but im older and going through savings and there will be bitching about how people my age did not save for retirement. but we did and tis going, going..... There are like a ton of small little things I would love to pick up but they are not absolutely necessary so I have not gotten them. Heck a heat wave is going through my area and it was so bad that I finally moved to turn on the ac to find the thermostat would not work and I worked all day trying to get it to work and did get it working but its like the thing from its a wonderful life about working to save 5 cents and a length of pipe.

[–] aramis87@fedia.io 1 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

Check your local energy provider. Some of them have online stores where you buy stuff from them for cheap - led lightbulbs, new thermostats, etc. Just check the small print: my energy company limits you to two purchases a year - but five purchases over the life of your account. Also, some of the thermostats they sell come with the caveat that they can remotely adjust your thermostat when they're having load issues; make sure you get one that doesn't come with that caveat (or just make sure it can be fully functional without needing the internet).

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 2 points 15 hours ago

my brother had a spare and I got the one working so if it goes kaput I now have something ot replace it with.