If you can’t keep up with costs, you’re not alone.

The cost of housing, food, and utilities is eating up budgets

Parents of young children are struggling to keep up with the cost of living crisis. Groceries are getting more expensive. So are utilities, rent, child care, and practically everything else. It makes it hard to make ends meet, and even harder to try to get ahead.

To learn more, the RAPID Survey Project, CTData, and The Connecticut Project partnered together to talk to more than 1,000 families with young children in our state. Their answers show how the cost of living crisis is making it hard to get by. 

“The stress of not being able to sustain monthly costs and using what savings we have leaves us worried about the future,” a parent in Windham said. “We do not qualify for any daycare assistance and paying for daycare costs is 51% of our income.”

The survey found that:

• More than half (52%) of parents struggled to meet basic needs in the last month
• More than one in three (36%) of parents struggled to pay for utilities
• More than one in four (27%) of parents struggled to pay for housing
• One in four (25%) of parents struggled to pay for food

Of the parents who had trouble paying for utilities, 79% struggled with their electric bill, 52% with gas, and 51% with internet. 

Families told us about constantly dipping into their savings accounts, using help from nonprofits and churches to get by, and spending half of their paychecks on child care. One in four parents said they aren’t financially secure, and 42% said they were only somewhat financially secure. One parent in Norwalk said they were avoiding social situations because they were embarrassed about needing help.

The affordability crisis is forcing parents to take on debt. Of the 54% of parents who said they are late on paying bills or have debt:

• 56% have credit card debt
• 40% have medical bills
• 40% owe on their utility bills
• 23% were behind on paying rent

Parents of children with disabilities, and families in rural areas, were more likely to say that they were struggling to keep up with costs and had taken on debt.

If you’re a parent of young children, these results likely don’t surprise you. People of all ages and in all communities across Connecticut are struggling to make ends meet as costs keep increasing, but paychecks aren’t keeping up.

Some relief is on the way for families having trouble affording child care. Signed into law this summer, the Early Childhood Education Endowment is a crucial, historical step toward putting child care within reach of more parents. And we know that this is just one step – our state has to work harder to make life more affordable for working class people, now. 

Read the full report to learn more about Connecticut families’ struggles to make ends meet.