What do low-income seniors need?
The first year of our joint AAFC/Frederick Health Service Coordination Project gathered this data:
Tracking of 96 program participants receiving 2,952 unduplicated services falling into 25 service categories over year 1 shows seniors having strong need for support in the following areas:
- information and help with benefits/insurance management
- health care and services
- transportation
- home management/meeting requirements for annual voucher inspections
- monitoring for safety, health care compliance, general needs
- isolation prevention
- outreach to service providers
- need for assistive devices to avoid falls and maintain mobility
Economic Needs of Seniors in Frederick County:
- Income in the past 12 months among 21,843 household (2020 ACS)
- 45.6% with earnings
- Mean dollars: $73,679
- 86.5% with Social Security income
- Mean dollars: $23,645
- 3.2% with Supplemental Security income
- Mean dollars: $11,680
- 0.9% with Cash Public Assistance income
- Mean dollars: $3,334
- 61.1% with retirement income
- Mean dollars: $38,757
- 45.6% with earnings
- The mean income of all primary householders in households 65 years of age and older in 2019 was $71,559, and increase from $65,649 in 2018. (Updated 2018 Human Needs Assessment, Community Foundation of Frederick County)
- Poverty Status in the past 12 months among senior population of 36,120 for whom poverty status is determined: (2018 poverty level for a single adult: $12,140) 2020 ACS:
- 5.5% were below 100% of the poverty level
- 5.2% were 100-149% of the poverty level
- 2020 ALICE Report for Frederick County* using 2018 ACS data:
- The ALICE threshold survival budget for a senior in 2018: $47,268 and $61,260 for 2 seniors in the same home
- 41% of senior households (65 years of age and older) fell beneath the ALICE threshold:The number of senior households with income below the ALICE threshold increased from 7,356 in 2010 to 10,757 in 2018, a 46% increase. (10,757 includes 9,300 households in ALICE and 1,457 households falling below the federal poverty level).
- Seniors represent 6% more of the total ALICE population than they do of the total population.
*Many older adults are on fixed incomes and are part of the population called ALICE – Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed. ALICE households have incomes above the Federal Poverty Level (FPL), but struggle to afford basic household necessities.
Food Security
- 1,907 households with at least 1 person 60 years of age or older received Food Stamps/SNAP benefits in the past 12 months (2020 ACS)
- 2019 Feeding America Food Insecurity Data for Frederick County*:
- 24,350 food insecure people in the county
- 9.7% food insecurity rate
*Hunger & Poverty in the United States | Map the Meal Gap (feedingamerica.org)
- April – December 2020, Frederick County’s Senior Services Division distributed 28 tons of food and had a 600% increase in demand for meals.*
*2020 Annual Report, Frederick County Executive
There is also growing food insecurity at the other end of the age spectrum, with a projected 8 million food insecure seniors nationwide by 2050. In Maryland in 2018, 11% of adults aged 60 and older had experienced food insecurity in the prior 12 months. Compared to other seniors, food-insecure seniors are more than twice as likely to have depression, 91% more likely to have asthma, 66% more likely to have had a heart attack, and 57% more likely to have congestive heart failure. Public benefits help but do not eliminate the need for emergency assistance measures, such as food pantries.
-2022 Community Health Needs Assessment