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What Elders Need to Live and What They Have in Marin County

This chart compares the basic cost of living, as quantified by the Elder Standard Index, to three common sources of income for elders.  The gap between what elders need to cover their basic living expenses, as shown by the Elder Standard Index lines in black, and the income they have, as shown by the green bar charts, illustrates the degree of economic instability that many elders experience. While fewer elders experience this gap in affluent Marin county, women homeowners with a mortgage continue to struggle.  To view the detailed table click here.

 

 The chart shows that it is not just "poor" elders who are struggling in Contra Costa County:

  • The average Social Security payment of $14,282 is not enough to live on, and yet, one out of three seniors in California relies exclusively on Social Security to cover their basic costs.
  • Women—even those few fortunate enough to have a pension in addition to Social Security—have trouble making ends meet if they are still paying off a mortgage.  And for women, who rent their annual median retirement income, on average, is just above what it takes to make ends meet, according to the Elder Standard Index.
  • Men, with a pension in addition to Social Security and other sources of unearned income, are doing much better than women in Marin County. They appear to be able to make ends meet regardless of their housing situation.
  • Public supports are supposed to help close the gap between seniors' income and their expenses, but many elders fall through the cracks:  access to these supports is based on an unrealistically low assessment of what it costs to live: the $10,210 Federal Poverty Line
  • SSI, the program designed to help the most vulnerable population—the blind, aged, and disabled—puts these individuals hovering right above the FPL, but far below what it really costs to make ends meet, according to the Elder Standard Index.

 

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