Results for: Financial Stress

Nearly half of households in the Inland Empire, encompassing Riverside and San Bernardino counties, are struggling to meet their basic expenses, according to a Census Bureau survey. The area has the highest proportion of respondents facing financial stress among the 15 largest US metro areas. One-third of households reported difficulties paying energy bills in the past year, and one in seven experienced food insecurity in the previous week. Despite a booming warehousing industry during the pandemic, the metro area has seen a recent slowdown and higher-than-average unemployment and inflation rates.

In the United States, high-quality child care is prohibitively expensive. The best option could cost about $2,000 per month, with a long waitlist. This burden falls most heavily on mothers, who are more likely to leave their jobs to care for children. As a result, the gap in employment rates between mothers with college degrees and those who don’t has widened. For mothers without college degrees, a day without work is often a day without pay. Even for those who can afford child care, the cost is overwhelming. The Department of Health and Human Services defines affordable child care as costing no more than 7% of a household budget, but a Labor Department study found fewer than 50 American counties where a family earning the median household income could obtain child care at an affordable price.