PA Families Struggling To Pay For Child Care, Housing: Study

PHILADELPHIA SUBURBS, PA —Families in the Philadelphia suburbs are struggling to pay for basic needs, including high child care and housing costs, according to a new study.

A family of four with young children needs to make about $90,000 just to make ends meet in the Philadelphia suburbs, a new study released this month by the nonprofit Pathways PA shows.

According to the study, more than 846,000 working-age Pennsylvania households lack enough income just to cover those basic needs.

The 2020 Overlooked and Undercounted report examines the cost of basic necessities by creating a "Self-Sufficiency Standard" for each Pennsylvania county. The newly released Self-Sufficiency Standard, which uses data from 2019, shows what you need to make just to be able to pay for housing, child care, food, healthcare, transportation, taxes, and other miscellaneous basic needs.

Keep in mind the Self-Sufficiency Standard budget is a "bare-bones" budget that covers only the basic necessities at a "minimally adequate" level but without public assistance, the study said.

"We find that Pennsylvania families struggling to make ends meet are neither a small nor a marginal group, but rather represent a substantial proportion of the state," the report summary states. "Individuals and married couples with children, households in which adults work full time, and people of all racial and ethnic backgrounds account for substantial portions of those struggling to make ends meet in Pennsylvania."

The most expensive suburban Philadelphia county is Chester, where families made up of two adults and two preschool-aged children need to earn more than $93,100 just to pay their bills.

The largest expense for young families in the region by far is child care, which costs more than housing if both parents work full-time and more than one child is in daycare.

In Chester County, families with two children in day care will pay $2,649 a month. Housing in Chester County is $1,285 for that size family. Food costs were $886; healthcare costs $676; transportation and miscellaneous accounted for $569 each.

A family of the same size and make up needs to make $89,609 in Montgomery County, $86,645 in Bucks County, and $82,407 in Delaware County, the report notes.

In Montgomery County, day care costs for two children are $2,468. In Bucks County, day care for two children is $2,363.

A family of four with no children in daycare but two school-aged children still needs to earn $82,484 in Montgomery County, $81,879 in Chester County, $78,940 in Bucks County, and $77,316 in Delaware County just to pay for basic needs.

Many Pennsylvania families are struggling to meet this income standard and make ends meet, the report notes.

In Philadelphia, 43 percent of households are living below the standard, which is $67,899 for a family of four, including two school-aged children.

In Delaware County 23 percent of families are below the standard. In both Montgomery and Chester counties, 19 percent of families are below the standard. In Bucks County, 17 percent of families are below the standard.

"With one out of four Pennsylvania households lacking enough income to meet their basic needs, the problem of inadequate income is extensive, affecting families throughout the state, in every racial/ ethnic group, among men, women, and children, in all counties. Nevertheless, inadequate income is concentrated disproportionately in some places and among some groups," the report summary states.

The families most at risk for not being able to earn enough to pay for necessities are those with young children, the report notes. Single parents are particularly at risk: "The combination of being a woman, having children, and solo parenting is associated with the highest rates of income inadequacy — particularly for single mothers of color," the report summary said.

You can explore the Self-Sufficiency Standard for each Pennsylvania county here.