Data Source:

Center for Women’s Welfare, University of Washington

Analysis:

Silicon Valley Institute for Regional Studies

Data are from the Self-Sufficiency Standard for California, from the Center for Women’s Welfare at the University of Washington School of Social Work. Silicon Valley data includes Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties; Bay Area includes the 9-county region; California is a statewide county average. Developed by Dr. Diana Pearce, the Self-Sufficiency Standard defines the amount of income necessary to meet basic needs (including taxes) without public subsidies (e.g., public housing, food stamps, Medicaid or child care) and without private/informal assistance (e.g., free babysitting by a relative or friend, food provided by churches or local food banks, or shared housing). The family types for which a Standard is calculated range from one adult with no children, to one adult with one infant, one adult with one preschooler, and so forth, up to three-adult households with six teenagers. Asian/Pacific Islander, Black, and White are non-Hispanic or Latino. Lanitx is the term used in the Self-Sufficiency Standard analyses corresponding to “Hispanic or Latino” in the U.S. Census Bureau survey data. 2022 data were based on the regional household compositions from the 2021 American Community Survey (ACS) 1-year Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) by the U.S. Census Bureau and an inflation-adjusted Self-Sufficiency Standard for California calculated for 2022. Self-Sufficiency wages are for 2022, using inflation-adjusted 2021 Self-Sufficiency Standard wages. The Portland, Oregon share of households below Self-Sufficiency Standards include Multnomah County and is from Overlooked and Undercounted 2021: Struggling to Make Ends Meet in Oregon (Center for Women’s Welfare and Worksystems, September 2021). The New York City share of households below Self-Sufficiency Standards comes from Overlooked and Undercounted 2021: Struggling to Make Ends Meet in New York City (Annie Kucklick & Lisa Manzer, June 2021). Denver includes the City/County of Denver; Phoenix includes Maricopa County; San Diego data comes from the County of San Diego, Health and Human Services Agency San Diego County Self-Sufficiency Standard Dashboard. South Manhattan represents the highest Self-Sufficiency Wages for New York City in 2021. Data for Hourly Self-Sufficiency Wages for a Single Adult with a Preschooler (ages 3-5) and a School-Aged Child (ages 6-12) for 2021 data were inflation-adjusted and are reported in 2022 dollars using the Bay Area consumer price index for all urban consumers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for Silicon Valley data, 2022 estimate based on data through August, the California consumer price index for all urban consumers from the California Department of Finance May Revision Forecast (April 2022) for San Diego, and the U.S. city average consumer price index for all urban consumers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics based on January through October data for Portland and South Manhattan. Federal Poverty Threshold is an estimate based on the 2022 Federal Poverty Limit for a family of three in the 48 contiguous states and Washington, D.C., assuming a 40 hour work week, year-round. California minimum wage is for Employers with 26 Employees or More in 2022.

The Self-Sufficiency Standard defines the amount of income necessary to meet basic needs without public subsidies or private/informal assistance. Asian/Pacific Islander, Black, White, and Other are non-Hispanic or Latino.

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