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Though wages have risen across the country at the fastest rate in four decades, Tri-County households saw increases in the cost of living from 2021 to 2022 that far outpaced those additional earnings.
In Charleston County, a family of four needs to earn over $89,000 per year just to afford basic necessities. These “basics” include housing, food, utilities, childcare, taxes and a smartphone plan, but do not include additional expenses like school supplies, student loan payments, dining out, visiting a museum or travel.
As a result, a total 131,809 Tri-County households — or 39% — were living paycheck to paycheck, according to a new update from Trident United Way and its research partner United For ALICE.
That calculation includes the 35,898 households living below the Federal Poverty Level, as well as another 95,911 households, defined as ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed), earning above the Federal Poverty Level but less than what’s needed to survive in the current economy.
The 2022 report, ALICE in the Crosscurrents: An Update on Financial Hardship in South Carolina shows that while wages were increasing, costs were rising faster. For a family of four with an infant and a preschooler, the basic cost to live and work in Charleston County rose from $70,716 in 2021 to $89,004 just one year later. Compounding the issue was the 2022 loss of up to $15,000 in federal child tax credits and stimulus payments that many families had access to in 2021.
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