37% Of Southern Ocean County Kids Living In Financial Hardship: Report

SOUTHERN OCEAN COUNTY, NJ — About 37 percent of Southern Ocean County children's' families face financial hardship, according to a new report by United Way of Northern New Jersey. The nonprofit said that the number of children in the U.S. who grow up in financial hardship is "drastically higher" than what is reported.

United Way measures financial struggle not just through the federal poverty line but through its own ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) metric. ALICE households live paycheck to paycheck and can't afford the basics for survival, according to the organization.

Sixteen percent of U.S. children fall under the poverty line. But 49 percent are in families that fall below the ALICE threshold, reflecting a national struggle for families with children to afford essentials in the modern economy, according to United Way of Northern New Jersey.

In Southern Ocean County, which the nonprofit defines as Lacey through Little Egg Harbor, 37 percent of children fell under the ALICE threshold in 2019, according to United Way's analysis. This is nearly 7,000 children.

Fifty-five percent of Hispanic children in Southern Ocean County were part of families or households that struggled to afford basic necessities. Thirty-three percent were white.

"Undercounting the number of children who are at risk can have lifelong consequences," said Kiran Handa Gaudioso, CEO of United Way of Northern New Jersey. "Thousands of children are locked out of receiving critical supports for stable housing, food and quality education, all of which can inhibit healthy child development."

Forty-one percent of New Jersey children have families that fall below the ALICE threshold, according to United Way of Northern New Jersey. Twenty-two percent of households that fell below the threshold had two adults working.

To determine local data, United Way of Northern New Jersey separates its maps into Public Use Microdata Areas (PUMAs) — a U.S. Census Bureau geography that separates areas into groupings of about 100,000 people each.

Find the full report and data here.