Nearly half of South Florida's households struggle to afford basic necessities, study says

A study released by United Way this week found that 40 to 50 percent of households in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties earn more than the U.S. poverty level, but less than the basic cost of living for the county in which they live.

Those households living paycheck to paycheck are classified as ALICE: Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed.

The study says ALICE households can have an economic ripple effect throughout the community, according to an excerpt:

ALICE households are forced to make difficult choices such as skipping preventative health care, accredited child care, healthy food, or car insurance. These "savings" threaten their health, safety, and future – and they reduce Florida's economic productivity and raise insurance premiums and taxes for everyone.

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Based on data from 2012, the study found that 45 percent, or 3.2 million households in Florida struggle to support themselves. When taking a closer look at each county as the study did, the number of ALICE households was similar to state-wide numbers.

In Miami-Dade County, 50 percent, or 418,920 of households are classified as poverty or ALICE households — the highest number across the state. The study said some contributing factors include the finding that only six percent of the county's population uses public transportation as their primary means of getting to work and the purchasing a house is the least affordable in Miami-Dade compared to other 66 counties in the state, by United Way's measurements.

Most of the county's struggling households are believed to be in Miami.

Emon Reiser covers retail, restaurants, tourism and hospitality. Get the latest retail news with our free daily newsletter. Click here to subscribe.