The chart shows that many women are struggling inShasta County, but men are getting by:

• The average Social Security payment of $12,222 is not enough to live on, and yet, one out of three seniors in California rely exclusively on Social Security to cover their basic costs.
• Women--even those few fortunate enough to have a pension in addition to Social Security--can not meet their expenses if they rent or own their home with a mortgage.
• Men, with a pension in addition to Social Security and other sources of unearned income, are doing much better than women. With $30,216 of median retirement income, they fall above the Edler Standard Index whether they rent, or own their home, with our without a mortgage.
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 them hovering right above the FPL, but far below what it really costs to make ends meet, according to the Elder Standard.