Elder Index and Elders Struggling to Make Ends Meet by County
Long Term Care Costs by County
Forty-seven percent of older adults (65+ years) in California are struggling to make ends meet. Yet, the official poverty measure identifies only 8% of these 1.76 million seniors in need. With fixed incomes and ever-increasing costs, the others often fall through the cracks of our public support systems, unable to quality for many programs. Seniors have spent their entire lives being productive members of society, raising their children and grandchildren, working hard and paying into the system. They deserve better. As a nation, and a state, it is our responsibility to make sure they don’t spend their “golden years” struggling to make ends meet. to learn more about what it takes for seniors to cover their basic needs in counties across California and which seniors are not making it.
Led by the Insight Center for Community Economic Development, the California Elder Economic Security Initiative (Cal-EESI) is a statewide, research-driven coalition at the forefront of a national movement to ensure that seniors have the support and resources they need to age with economic dignity and well-being. Cal-EESI is part of the Insight Center’s parent project, Building Economic Security for All. We partner with Wider Opportunities for Women (WOW) in Washington D.C. and states across the country in this effort. Click to read more.
A key component of the California Elder Economic Security Initiative is the Elder Economic Security Standard Index (Elder Index). The Elder Index is a county-specific measure of the minimum income necessary to cover all of an older adult’s basic expenses—housing, food, health care and transportation. Click here to read more about how the Elder Index is calculated and why it is a better measure than the Federal Poverty Guidelines.