A Grandview single mother of three who works full-time as a reconciliation purchasing specialist, according to FOX 4 Kansas City, says rising living costs have made it harder than ever to manage her family's expenses. Jessica Fulghem-Jarmon's experience lines up with new data showing a sizable share of Kansas City metro households are working jobs that still don't cover the basics.
The data comes from the ALICE framework — short for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed — which United Way of Greater Kansas City uses to describe households that earn above the federal poverty level but still can't afford essentials where they live. According to the nonprofit, Missouri's ALICE Survival Budget for a family of four sits at $72,228 a year, while the state's federal poverty level for that same household size is $31,200. A single adult in Missouri needs $27,024 to cover the ALICE Household Survival Budget, compared with a federal poverty level of just $15,060, the report notes.
What Minimum-Wage Work Adds Up To
The Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations says the state minimum wage increased to $13.75 an hour on January 1, 2025. At 40 hours a week for 52 weeks, that amounts to $28,600 in gross annual pay. That is nominally $1,576 above the report's $27,024 survival budget for one adult, but the comparison is between gross wages and a household budget; it does not account for taxes or interruptions in work. It is also far below the $72,228 survival budget for a family of four.
As reported by FOX4 Kansas City, the United Way report says 38% of Missouri families do not earn enough to survive in the current economy, with roughly 964,480 Missouri families living below the ALICE threshold statewide. The outlet also reports that the ALICE analysis breaks hardship down by municipality, county, and demographic group across the region.
County Rates Vary Across the Metro
FOX4's account of the report shows differing rates across metro counties: 46% in Wyandotte County and 40% in Jackson County, compared with 26% in Johnson County. The report lists Kansas's ALICE Threshold at $69,100, the station reports.
FOX4 reported on Grandview resident Jessica Fulghem-Jarmon, a single mother of three who works full-time as a reconciliation purchasing specialist. She told the station that rising living costs have made it harder to manage her family's expenses. FOX4 also reported that Todd Jordan, United Way of Greater Kansas City's chief policy and research officer, said working parents with children report that full-time work still does not make ends meet.
What a Bigger Cushion Would Cost
The report also estimates the income needed to move beyond basic expenses. FOX4 reports that a family of four would need $119,436 a year for a stability budget that includes a financial cushion and contingency plan. For a single adult, the station reports, the stability budget is $47,500, compared with about $27,000 for the survival budget.
The jobs most commonly held by Missouri's ALICE workers include personal care aides, cashiers, cooks, waiters and waitresses, janitors, nursing assistants, and retail workers, as reported by United Way of Greater Kansas City. Rising costs are outpacing wages for many households across categories including housing, food, childcare, healthcare, and transportation, FOX4 reports.
Costs Climbing Faster Than Inflation
The squeeze isn't unique to Missouri. Nationally, the ALICE Essentials Index — which tracks housing, child care, food, transportation, health care, and basic technology costs — has increased faster than the Consumer Price Index for more than a decade, per United Way of Greater Kansas City. From 2021 to 2024, that index rose at an annual rate of 5.6%, compared with 5.0% for CPI, according to United For ALICE. Looking back further, U.S. rental housing costs rose 99% between 2007 and 2024, while food-at-home costs climbed 38% and family child care costs jumped 74% over the same period, the organization's data shows.
United For ALICE calculates household essentials costs by county and says its estimates draw on American Community Survey data. Because the survey uses a representative sample rather than a full count, the estimates carry some uncertainty.
Nonprofit's Next Steps
United Way of Greater Kansas City said it will combine the ALICE data with its 211 community resource information and partner insight to help guide investments, strengthen programs, and convene cross-sector solutions aimed at working households, as noted by United Way of Greater Kansas City. Jordan has also raised broader policy questions, asking how nonprofits can prevent crises from escalating and how public-sector benefit programs can avoid penalizing families for small raises, according to the United Way report. The nonprofit said the data is meant to give stakeholders, policymakers, and community leaders the information they need to pursue systemic change and long-term financial stability solutions.
