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Self-Sufficiency

1 out of 4 Colorado residents live below the self-sufficiency standard.

The Self-Sufficiency Standard measures how much income a family of a certain composition in a given place needs to meet their basic needs without public or private assistance.

What does it take to make ends meet in Colorado?

The Colorado Center on Law and Policy published The Self-Sufficiency Standard for Colorado 2022 Report to ensure the best data and analyses are available to enable Colorado’s families and individuals to make progress toward real economic security.

 

The result is a comprehensive, credible, and user-friendly tool.

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Over the last twenty-one years, the Self-Sufficiency Standard for two adults, one preschooler, and one school-aged child has increased by 124%, on average, for all Colorado counties, or an average of 5.9% per year since 2001.

While median earnings have only increased 64%.

Cost of Living in Colorado

The living wage is the hourly amount someone needs to earn while working full-time (40 hours a week, all year) to support themselves and their family. For families with young children, almost half of their budget goes toward housing and child care. 

 

Click here to see what the living wage is in Colorado for your family.

Change in Cost by Budget Area: 2001-2021

  • Housing: 92%

  • Child Care: 139%

  • Food: 98%

  • Transportation: 46%

  • Health Care: 176%

  • Miscellaneous: 169%

Self-Sufficiency Standard
Self-Sufficiency Standard

Hourly Wage Needed to Meet the Self-Sufficiency Standard

In 2022, the minimum wage was $12.56 an hour. At that rate, most families wouldn’t earn enough to cover their basic needs, even working full-time. A two-adult household came close, but only if both adults worked full-time at that wage.

Self-Sufficiency Standard
Family Together

Annual Income Needed to Achieve Self-Sufficiency

The income calculated by the Self-Sufficiency Standard is the bare minimum a household needs to earn to cover basic needs. It does not include the costs of travel or getting ice cream with the family, things that add to Coloradans’ quality of life.

Single parent family

A single parent with one preschooler and one school-age child needs to earn $91,395 a year to cover basic living costs in Jefferson County without assistance.

Two parent family

A family of four (two adults, one preschooler, and one school-age child) needs to earn $100,084 a year to cover basic living costs in Jefferson County without assistance.

Strategies to Meet the Self-Sufficiency Standard

Closing the gap between current wages and the Self-Sufficiency Standard requires both:

reducing costs and raising incomes.

Only a Few Top Jobs Pay Self-Sufficiency Wages

Self-Sufficiency Standard

Hourly Self-Sufficiency wage for one adult, one preschooler, and one school-age child in Denver County

Reduce Costs:

  • Provide struggling families with work support that offers stability and resources while they become self-sufficient.

  • Align the eligibility criteria of public programs to close gaps in support for those on 'the cliff'.

Raise Incomes:

  • Enhance skills and improve access to jobs that pay higher wages.

  • Change public policies to increase the minimum wage.

  • Remove barriers that perpetuate occupational segregation into low-wage jobs by race/ethnicity and gender.

Image by Hillshire Farm

The Jeffco Prosperity Partners program works to help families move from poverty to prosperity.

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