United Way Suncoast presented updated ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) data to the Pinellas County Board of County Commissioners on Jan. 6, saying the locally adjusted measure shows thousands of working households cannot afford basic needs.

Nicole Pena Miller, a researcher with United Way Suncoast, told commissioners that ALICE recalculates what it costs to get by using current local costs, family type and geography rather than the federal poverty line, which she said was built from 1950s food-plan assumptions. "ALICE stands for asset limited, income constrained, employed," Miller said, and the metric captures households who are above the federal poverty level but still lack a stable financial footing.

Miller said the local ALICE count is about 204,000 households in Pinellas County, roughly 46% of households in the region. She told the board that many ALICE households are in the workforce and include critical occupations: "It's 1 in 7 registered nurses. It's 1 in 5 elementary and middle school teachers." She also cited seniors as a fast-growing ALICE cohort, reporting a roughly 20% increase in struggling senior households over recent years.

Commissioners asked for programmatic responses. Miller pointed to childcare as a major budget pressure for many families, noting an example household budget for two adults and two young children that reached roughly $108,000 a year under ALICE assumptions. She suggested the county promote a state employer tax credit created last year that offers businesses up to $5 million in credits for providing on-site or off-site childcare; according to the presentation, about $12 million remained available to be claimed statewide.

Why it matters: The ALICE measure highlights residents who fall into a policy blind spot between program eligibility thresholds and economic self-sufficiency. Commissioners said the data should shape outreach and workforce-development decisions, including preserving industrial land to attract jobs that offer livable wages.

The presentation materials and local data are posted by United Way Suncoast; Miller said statewide ALICE data can be found at unitedforalice.org. Several commissioners requested follow-up breakdowns by veteran status and other demographic slices; Miller offered to have the data team provide that detail.

Next steps: United Way Suncoast asked commissioners to share the data with local partners and consider cross-sector strategies (education, employer supports and disaster resiliency) to reduce household financial strain.