Dark Days Ahead: Older Californians Face Mounting Daily Expenses

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The struggle for Californians ages 65 and older to pay their day-to-day expenses has only gotten worse in the last decade, in particular for older adults who live alone, according to new data from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research (CHPR).

From 2015 to 2023, the number of single older adults living alone who are economically insecure increased by 19%, from 542,000 to 647,000. During the same time frame, researchers found that the number of economically insecure older couples in a two-person household increased by 26%, from 362,000 to 458,000.

These findings are available now as part of an extensive update of UCLA CHPR’s California Elder Index. The CEI is an evidence-based equity tool that provides estimates for basic living costs such as housing, health care, food, transportation and limited miscellaneous expenses faced by adults ages 65 and older.

The federal poverty level, or FPL, guidelines are often used by the federal government to determine income eligibility for government assistance programs, including programs such as Medicaid, known as Medi-Cal in California, and SNAP (CalFresh). The researchers say the new data reinforces what the CEI has illustrated throughout its existence: The federal poverty level ignores important financial context.

“The federal poverty level guidelines are an outdated measure based on food costs only and do not account for other basic living expenses or local costs of living,” said Kathryn Kietzman, director of the UCLA CHPR Health Equity Program, of which the California Elder Index is a part.

The UCLA CHPR recently updated its free, searchable online data dashboards that allows users to learn more about the economic security of older adults in each of the state’s 58 counties. Users can sort by sex, age groups, race and ethnicity, household type (renter versus homeowner) and family type, such as single older adult living alone, older couple, or older adult housing adult children and/or grandchildren.

The new data show how the gap continues to increase between the federal poverty level and the California Elder Index’s estimated income needed to cover older adults’ basic living expenses.

In 2015, the FPL was $11,770 a year for a single older adult who rents housing. Meanwhile, the estimated CEI cost for that person to pay for very basic living expenses was $23,760, leaving a gap of $11,990, according to the California Elder Index data.