A record number of Miamians can’t make ends meet. Why that’s a risk for everyone

South Florida admin June 15, 2026 0 Comments

A record number of Miamians can’t make ends meet. Why that’s a risk for everyone

A record number of Miami-Dade families are living paycheck to paycheck, a new report has found.

North of a half-million county households — 563,947 to be exact — are struggling to make ends meet, according to new data from United Way. That’s 56% of all Miami-Dade households, a two-percentage-point increase from last year and the highest rate in a decade.

United Way calls those families ALICE — asset limited, income constrained, employed. That means they make just enough money to survive — often too much to qualify for government assistance — but not enough to save, be it for emergencies, college, a house or retirement, and to build assets.

Their financial lives are precarious. They’re often one big unforeseen expense away from economic ruin, which is hugely risky for both them and the community at large, researchers say.

So how did it come to be that so many Miami-Dade families are living on the edge? The answer boils down to prices — particularly for things like housing, childcare, food and gas — that are rising faster than wages, said Melissa Nelson, president of United Way of Florida.

And that increased need comes at a time when there are fewer resources for social services, she noted.

How has life become so unaffordable?

Affordability is ultimately a numbers game — do you earn more than what it costs to survive?

But what does it cost to survive?

If you’re a single adult living in Miami-Dade, you need at least $47,784 annually to get by, United Way found. If you have one kid, that number shoots up to almost $65,000 a year, and if you’re two adults with two children under the age of 5, you need $114,480.

Those numbers don’t take into account savings of any kind, including for emergencies. They just cover the basics — housing, food, childcare if you have a child, transportation, healthcare, taxes and necessary technology (think: a cellphone, internet, etc.).

That means if a family’s electricity bill spikes, they might not be able to afford groceries. If the car breaks down, they might have to wait on that necessary medical procedure, or the kids might have to keep wearing clothes they’ve outgrown.

And the cost of those basic expenses has gone up considerably over the years. Take housing, for instance, which is normally the largest line item on a household’s budget.

In 2024, which is the year United Way used for this most recent ALICE report, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development considered $2,324 a fair monthly rent for a two-bedroom apartment in the Miami metro area. That marked a nearly 60% jump from the $1,454 HUD deemed a fair asking price for the same apartment in 2019. But over that same time period, the median household income in greater Miami increased by only 34%, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

And while economy-wide inflation grew sharply in the three years to 2024 — nearly 5% annually — it grew faster, 5.6% a year, for the essential goods and services people need to survive, like food, lodging, transportation and basic technology, the United Way study showed. Those purchases are often the only expenditures ALICE households can afford, and they occupy nearly all of their budget.

In Florida, the cost of those essential purchases increased even faster than the national average for the same basket of goods: 7.3% annually between 2021 and 2024, United Way found.

“For most ALICE households, the challenge is not a single expense,” said Symeria Hudson, president and CEO of United Way Miami. “It is the effect of multiple essential costs rising simultaneously.”

And many of Florida’s workers aren’t earning enough to keep pace. Roughly 3.4 million Floridians work in the state’s 20 most common occupations. Of that, 1.2 million don’t make enough to get by. In six of the most common occupations, including cashiers, custodians, construction workers, cooks, inventory stockers and housekeepers, more than half of workers make less than United Way’s estimated survival wage.

And certain families are hit harder than others. Among single-mother households in Miami-Dade, 84% fall below the ALICE threshold — more than double the rate for married-parent households. Young households — those headed by someone under the age of 25 — are similarly at risk: more than eight in 10 of them are living paycheck to paycheck, according to United Way.

What’s the cost of this?

The psychological toll of living at or below the survival wage is immense. Some 81% of Miami metropolitan area residents report being stressed about price increases — one of the highest rates of any major metro in the country, ahead of both Los Angeles and New York, according to Census Bureau data.

And that stress is driving people out. Miami-Dade lost roughly 10,000 residents last year, new Census estimates show, and experts warn the exodus skews young. In its economic forecast report last year, the Florida Chamber of Commerce projected that the state’s working-age population — those between 18 and 64 — would shrink between 2023 and 2025, reducing the size of the workforce.

“You’re losing that prime working-age population,” said Ned Murray, associate director of FIU’s Metropolitan Center and an expert on local housing affordability. “The wages and affordability just don’t cut it for them, so they move out.”

Ultimately, that impacts businesses, which will struggle with greater turnover and recruitment challenges, said Hudson of United Way of Miami. “The strength of Miami-Dade depends on ensuring that working families have a pathway to financial stability,” Hudson noted.

“Affordability has become one of the defining challenges of our time,” she said.

This story was produced with financial support from supporters including The Green Family Foundation Trust and Ken O’Keefe, in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners. The Miami Herald maintains full editorial control of this work.