Rayna Leibowitz packs a bag of groceries Thursday while giving a tour to a visitor at the Litchfield Food Bank. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

Roughly one-third of Mainers who are gainfully employed and living above the federal poverty level still cannot afford the basic cost of living, according to a new report compiled by the United Way.

Coupled with the approximately 12% of Mainers who are living below the federal poverty level, that means that almost half the state is just barely getting by.

The report, “ALICE in Maine: A study of financial hardship,” released Wednesday by the state’s seven United Way organizations, examines the ways many people in Maine’s workforce are struggling financially and why.

It pays special attention to the population classified as “ALICE,” an acronym for asset-limited, income-constrained and employed.

This is a population of “hardworking residents who work at low-paying jobs, have little or no savings and are one emergency away from falling into poverty,” the report says.

The group includes teachers, child care providers, health care and long-term care professionals, retail workers, people who maintain infrastructure and provide social services, and more.

According to the report, 13 of Maine’s 16 counties had at least 40% of households unable to make ends meet in 2021.

“These folks are vital to our state’s future economic well-being, and they face barriers beyond their control – impeding their ability to become financially stable,” said Courtney Yeager, spokesperson for the United Ways of Maine and president and CEO of the United Way of Kennebec Valley.

People working jobs across the labor force were impacted, but the industries struggling the most were cooks (63% at or below the ALICE threshold), nursing assistants (42%), personal care aides (42%), cashiers (41%) and food prep workers (37%).

The average income needed to meet the basic necessities for a family of four – housing, child care, food, transportation, health care and a smartphone plan – was about $71,000. That’s almost three times the federal poverty level of $26,000 and is well above the full-time earnings for most low-wage jobs in Maine.

The income threshold varied across the state, with $63,000 in Aroostook County and $81,000 in York County.

But despite the lower income needed to survive, households in Maine’s more northern and rural counties are struggling more than those in southern urban areas, according to the report.

In Oxford and Washington counties, more than half the households, 52% and 51%, respectively, were at or below the ALICE threshold, while Sagadahoc and Cumberland counties had the lowest rates at 33% and 37%.

Even with the temporary pandemic supports available in 2021, a family with two full-time people working in two of the most common jobs in Maine – retail sales and personal care aides – fell short of the basic expenses by more than $14,000, the report states.

Tessa Apple, 19, lost her job as a housekeeper in Brunswick about a week ago. She and her boyfriend, who works in Freeport, were living out of their car and with one car, they had trouble affording gas and getting to both jobs. She’s 17 weeks pregnant and came to see her mother who is living in a tent on Marginal Way. Michele McDonald/Photo Editor

This, the report says, is the crux of the problem: the mismatch between earnings and the cost of the basics.

For example, the cost of necessities rose, on average, 3% each year between 2007 and 2023, while the median wage for retail workers only increased 2.4% annually over the same span.

And more people are starting to struggle.

Between 2019 and 2021, the total number of households in Maine increased by 2% while the number of households at or below that ALICE threshold increased by 6%.

Young people, seniors and minorities were disproportionately impacted.

On average, 41% of white households were at or below the ALICE threshold, according to the report, compared to 59% of Black and 44% of Hispanic households.

Households below the age of 25 and above the age of 65 alsowere more likely to struggle, according to the United Way, with 60% and 55% living at or below the ALICE threshold, respectively.

These households are often forced to make choices that compromise health and safety, putting both the family and the wider community at risk of long-term societal and economic repercussions, Yeager said.

“When (someone who is asset-limited, income-constrained and employed) chooses unlicensed child care or longer commutes or emergency room health care in order to put food on the table, we all suffer the consequences with future costs to our education system, heavier traffic and higher premiums,” Yeager said.

It’s likely that things have only deteriorated in the two years since the data was collected.

“With pandemic relief benefits expiring, data from early 2022 suggests that the economic situation has in fact gotten worse for (people in the ALICE category), which in turn puts the wider economy at risk,” the report says. 

The report, which was compiled in partnership with United for ALICE a U.S. research organization dedicated to improving financial stability for people across the country, is touted as the most comprehensive depiction of financial need in the state.

“Until now, the true picture of need in local communities and states has been understated and obscured by misleading averages and outdated poverty statistics,” said Stephanie Hoopes, the lead researcher and director of United For ALICE.

Nationally, 41% of U.S. households fall at or below the ALICE threshold, compared to Maine’s 42%.

Maine ranks in the bottom half of states at No. 30, with Alaska ranking first with just 32% at or below ALICE and Louisiana ranking last with 51%. Maine had the highest percentage of struggling residents among the six New England states, with Massachusetts and Vermont tied for second and third with 40%.