Income Inequality and Poverty Research
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Analyzing Income Disparities
The Illinois Poverty Action Council (IPAC), an affiliate of the Illinois Association of Community Action Agencies (IACAA), conducts income inequality and poverty research to explore and better understand socioeconomic inequality. We believe the official poverty measure, especially when considered in isolation from larger societal and economic data, is a poor measurement of poverty, so we also study broader issues of income disparity and inequity.
Our research has explored the history of poverty in America and Illinois and how poverty and income inequality have changed. We have connected poverty to broader trends and demonstrated how poverty is an ugly sibling of excessive wealth. Over 700,000 Illinois residents live on less than twelve dollars per day (below 50% of the official poverty measure). Most (415,000) are children. These families and individuals depend on Community Action Agencies and other community services for survival, but surviving is not enough. Our mission is to change lives. No one should have to live on so little in a nation with so much wealth.
Poverty in the USA, 2024
By: Roger Pavey and Lana Shope
Explore poverty rate changes by county from 1960 to 2022, how income inequality has changed over time in the United States, the impact of intergenerational economic mobility, and six geographic regions most severely disadvantaged.
Evaluating Poverty Change in Illinois: The Sixty-Year War on Poverty, 2024
By: Roger Pavey, Lana Shope, Andrew Pavey, and Stormy Udell
Learn how the Illinois poverty rate has changed over the past six decades, a history of the official poverty measure, and a set of recommendations for Illinois Community Action Agencies.
Impact of Poverty on Communities
The adage that everyone in America is born with an equal chance of success is not untrue. Poverty varies widely across Illinois, and people experience poverty differently depending on where they live. We are interested in learning more about the poverty of place in our state and invite dialogue to inform future research.
We are especially interested in energy poverty in Illinois, defined as households disconnected from their home energy supplier due to their inability to afford the regressive cost of home heating and cooling. Community Action Agencies provide comprehensive energy security services through the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and the Illinois Home Weatherization Assistance Program (LIHWAP). While these programs help families with affordability and energy conservation, thousands of Illinois residents are disconnected from their power on any given day because their utilities are unaffordable. An average-income household in Illinois spends 2-3% of its income on home energy (utility bills). Households are considered energy-burdened if they spend more than 6% on utilities, and many low-income families are severely energy-burdened, with power bills consuming more than a third of their income, placing them at risk of disconnection and homelessness.
We are in the midst of an energy transition away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy. The transition is necessary and expensive. A transition that does not structurally address environmental justice will worsen income inequality in Illinois, endangering people and communities. As households transition to electrification and clean energy, they are subsidized by government tax credits for appliance replacement and electric vehicle purchases. Households with lower incomes often do not have the tax burden to benefit from tax credits, even if they could afford clean energy purchases. Over time, lower-income households may become “stranded customers” on fossil fuel delivery systems. As the number of customers on legacy systems declines, the cost for each customer will increase. We must work to understand the energy transition’s impact on households with lower incomes so we can structure incentives justly.
Illinois Energy Poverty, 2024
By: Roger Pavey
What communities in Illinois are most at risk of disconnection, who represents them politically, and what can we do to ensure access to power as a fundamental human right? Learn more about the LIHEAP program in Illinois, access interactive maps showing disconnections by Illinois House and Senate districts, and explore the parts of the state where households face the most significant risk of energy poverty (risk of disconnection). Learn how energy burden (the cost of home energy as a percentage of household income) varies geographically. How often were households in your area disconnected from their utilities due to inability to pay?
Research Insights and Solutions
The Illinois Poverty Action Council (IPAC) and the Illinois Association of Community Action Agencies (IACAA) study poverty and income inequality to promote community understanding and highlight Community Action Agencies’ work. We also use the results to advocate for changes in laws, regulations, and procedures. Using research to impact the policymaking process in Illinois helps make the state a better place to live, work, and play.
A common theme in our research is the connection of poverty with other factors. Our society is in a rising polycrisis, where a cluster of interdependent risks creates a compounding effect, with an overall impact more significant than the sum of each risk. Poverty, income inequality, global warming, global industrialization, rising air pollution, and other risks systematically combine to alter our world. Examining poverty without exploring its causative connections to the economy and justice creates an incomplete picture.
Our early research, which focuses on finding insights and solutions through research, concentrates on helping households with low incomes adapt to climate change.
Cooling Assistance: Equitable Climate Adaptation in Illinois, 2024
By: Roger Pavey and Nicole Popejoy
Higher summer temperatures pose a growing threat to health and safety in Illinois. We determine where the risk is most significant, the percentage of Illinois households with low income that lacks access to air conditioning, energy affordability, and how other states have modified their Low Income Home Energy Assistance Programs (LIHEAP) to include summer cooling. We conclude the report with recommended changes to the LIHEAP program. LIHEAP began as a heating program in response to the OPEC oil embargo in the late 1970s and early 1980s. As climate change advances, high summertime temperatures now directly threaten households that cannot afford air conditioning, pointing toward a need to modernize the program and expand its purpose.