Material Hardship among Affluent and Poor Households in the United States

We examined the correlates of hardship among affluent households and the characteristics of affluent households make them less likely to report hardships than poor ones. Is it income alone that explains differences in the likelihood of hardship, or do other characteristics—such as wealth and education—play important roles? Using 2021 data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation, we examined the prevalence of four types of hardship (bill paying, food, housing, and neighborhood) among poor and affluent households, with affluence defined as household income at least five times the poverty line. The predictors of hardship generally did not significantly differ across poor and affluent households. Wealth and the presence of a disabled household member were consistently linked with hardship among both. Decomposition analyses indicated that the difference in income alone was the most important reason why poor households are more likely to experience bill-paying and food hardships than affluent households, but wealth played the largest role in explaining differences in housing and neighborhood hardships. In decomposition analyses without income and wealth—two proximate determinants of hardship—household type (e.g., presence of a married couple), education, employment status, and race helped explain differences in hardship prevalence across poor and affluent households. Overall, our findings suggest that a variety of characteristics—the most important being income and wealth, depending on the hardship—help explain differences in the prevalence of hardship between poor and affluent households.