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ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed)
A United Way framework that identifies households earning above the federal poverty line but below the basic cost of living for their county — meaning they are employed and not "poor" by official measures, yet cannot afford housing, food, childcare, transportation, healthcare, and a smartphone plan simultaneously. In North Meck, ALICE households are the hidden gap between prosperity and poverty.
United Way ALICE Project
ALICE Threshold
The minimum income a household needs to cover a bare-bones budget for housing, food, childcare, transportation, healthcare, and technology in a given county. It is calculated by United Way for every county in the U.S. and is consistently higher than the federal poverty line — in Mecklenburg County it is roughly 2–3× the FPL for a family of four.
United Way ALICE Project
American Community Survey (ACS)
The U.S. Census Bureau's largest ongoing survey, producing yearly estimates of income, rent, housing, and demographics for communities nationwide. Most figures on this site come from the ACS.
U.S. Census Bureau
Area Median Income (AMI)
The midpoint income for households in a metro area, set annually by HUD. In Charlotte-Mecklenburg the 2025 median is $112,200 for a family of four. Housing programs use percentages of AMI (30%, 50%, 80%) to set eligibility.
HUD FY25 Income Limits
Cost-burdened
A household spending more than 30% of its gross monthly income on housing (rent or mortgage plus utilities). At this level, households often struggle to cover food, healthcare, and other essentials.
HUD definition
Data equity
An approach to collecting, analyzing, and presenting data that actively includes marginalized communities and corrects for historical bias. The CRF program applies a data-equity framework to all of its research.
Urban Institute, Principles for Advancing Equitable Data Practice, 2020
Eviction filing
A legal document a landlord files to remove a tenant. It appears on a tenant's record even if the case is later dismissed, making future housing harder to secure. In FY25, 52,625 eviction cases were filed in Mecklenburg County.
Mecklenburg County FY25
Fair Market Rent (FMR)
HUD's estimate of the gross rent for a modestly priced unit in a metro area. FY25 Charlotte-Meck: one-bedroom $1,647/month, two-bedroom $1,824/month.
HUD FY25 FMR, Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia MSA
Federal Poverty Line (FPL)
The federal government's official income threshold below which a household is classified as living in poverty. For 2026 it is $33,000 for a family of four. Critics argue the FPL was designed in the 1960s based on food costs alone and dramatically understates the true cost of living in high-cost suburbs like North Mecklenburg.
U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services, 2026 Poverty Guidelines
Gini Coefficient
A statistical measure of income inequality within a population. It ranges from 0 (perfect equality — everyone earns the same) to 1 (maximum inequality — one person earns everything). The U.S. figure is about 0.48. Cornelius has the highest Gini of the three North Meck towns, slightly above the national figure, indicating a wide gap between its highest- and lowest-income residents.
U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024 5-year (table B19083)
Homeownership rate
The share of households that own, rather than rent, their home. Differences in homeownership by race are a core measure of housing equity and of wealth built up over generations.
U.S. Census ACS
Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8)
A federal program that helps low-income households afford private-market rent. The household generally pays about 30% of its income toward rent and the voucher covers the rest.
HUD
Housing wage
The hourly pay a full-time worker needs to afford a modest rental home without spending more than 30% of their income on rent. For the Charlotte–Mecklenburg metro in 2025, the one-bedroom housing wage is $31.67 an hour.
NLIHC Out of Reach 2025
HUD
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the federal agency that funds housing assistance and sets the income limits, Fair Market Rents, and affordability standards used throughout this portal.
U.S. Dept. of Housing & Urban Development
Metro area (MSA)
A Metropolitan Statistical Area, a Census-defined region made up of a city and the surrounding communities tied to it economically. Regional figures here use the Charlotte–Concord–Gastonia MSA.
U.S. Census Bureau
Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing (NOAH)
Privately owned, unsubsidized rentals that are affordable because of their age or condition, not a government program. In Mecklenburg County, low-cost rentals (under $800/month) fell from 36% to just 8% of all rental stock between 2015 and 2024.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg State of Housing, 2025
Redlining
A discriminatory practice, widespread from the 1930s onward, in which banks and the government withheld mortgages and investment from neighborhoods because of their racial makeup. Its effects on homeownership and wealth are still visible today.
Mapping Inequality, University of Richmond
Severely cost-burdened
Spending more than 50% of gross monthly income on housing, leaving very little for anything else and sharply raising the risk of eviction or homelessness.
HUD definition
Survival budget
United Way's term for the bare-minimum household spending plan used to set the ALICE Threshold. It includes only non-negotiable monthly costs — a modest apartment, groceries, childcare, a car, basic healthcare, and a smartphone — with nothing left for savings, debt repayment, or emergencies.
United Way ALICE Project
Two-generation model
A service approach that supports children and the adults in their lives at the same time, pairing early education with job training, food assistance, and financial coaching, so a whole family can move toward stability together.
Ada Jenkins Center
Proficient / Grade-Level Proficient (GLP)
A student scoring Level 3 or higher (out of 5) on North Carolina's End-of-Grade or End-of-Course state exams. It is a passing score, but the lowest tier that counts as passing, distinct from the stricter College/Career Ready standard.
NC Department of Public Instruction
College/Career Ready (CCR)
A student scoring Level 4 or 5 (out of 5) on North Carolina's state exams, a higher bar than Grade-Level Proficient. NC DPI considers this level of performance a stronger indicator that a student is prepared for college or a career after high school.
NC Department of Public Instruction
Title I
A federal designation given to public schools with a high concentration of students from low-income families, which qualifies the school for additional federal funding. It reflects a school's income profile and funding eligibility, not its academic quality or performance.
U.S. Department of Education
EVAAS Growth Index
A statistical model North Carolina uses to measure whether students at a school made more, less, or about as much academic progress as expected over a year, based on their own prior performance rather than a fixed passing score. A score of 0 means a school met expected growth; positive scores mean students grew faster than predicted, negative scores mean slower.
NC Department of Public Instruction, EVAAS
Cohort graduation rate
The share of a single group of students who graduate within four years of first entering ninth grade together, tracked as one cohort even if some students transfer in or out along the way. This differs from simply counting diplomas issued in a given year, since it follows one specific group of students over time.
NC Department of Public Instruction
Economically disadvantaged
North Carolina's designation for students who qualify for benefits such as free or reduced-price lunch, foster care, or homelessness assistance, used by the state to report achievement gaps by income. It is closely related to, but not identical to, a school's Title I status.
NC Department of Public Instruction
Age-adjusted
A statistical technique that recalculates a health rate as if every town had the same age distribution, so places can be fairly compared. Without it, a town with more older residents would show higher disease rates simply because age itself raises risk, not because of any real difference in health.
CDC PLACES methodology
Prevalence
The share of a population that currently has a given health condition at a point in time, as opposed to the rate of new cases arising. A 12% diabetes prevalence means 12 of every 100 residents currently have diabetes, regardless of when they were diagnosed.
CDC PLACES
CDC PLACES
A CDC dataset that estimates health conditions and behaviors, such as disease prevalence, checkups, and insurance coverage, at the local level using a statistical model based on national health surveys rather than a direct survey of every resident. Estimates are considered reliable for cities and counties, though they carry more uncertainty at very small geographies.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Frequent mental distress
CDC's definition for reporting 14 or more days of poor mental health, out of the past 30, on a standard health survey question. It is a measure of self-reported burden over time, not a clinical diagnosis of any specific mental health condition.
CDC PLACES
TRICARE
The health insurance program for active-duty service members, military retirees, and their families, run by the U.S. Department of Defense rather than an employer or a marketplace plan. It is a small share of coverage in North Meck, but a distinct category from Medicare, Medicaid, or VA health care.
U.S. Department of Defense
