Orange Dot Report 6.0
The Piedmont Virginia Community College (PVCC) Network2Work program and The Equity Center at the University of Virginia have released the latest Orange Dot Report, providing a detailed look at economic indicators that directly impact families across the greater Charlottesville region.
Chart shows: Percent of local families who are paid a living wage, from the latest report.
In the larger Charlottesville region, 14,990 families (22%) do not make enough money to meet their basic needs—housing, child care, food, transportation, health care, miscellaneous expenses (clothing, telephone, household items), and taxes. Rising costs and inflation along with stagnant wages and undervalued labor has made it increasingly difficult for families to be self-sufficient.
To keep up with the rise in the cost of necessities, Orange Dot 6.0 has re-calibrated how it
determines the annual income required for families to meet their basic needs, using the Self-Sufficiency Standard. The Self-Sufficiency Standard is a project of the Center for Women’s Welfare at the University of Washington’s School of Social Work that defines the real cost of living for working families.
The Self-Sufficiency Standard varies by locality and family size. For the City of Charlottesville, and Albemarle, Fluvanna, Greene, and Nelson counties, the Self-Sufficiency Standard for an average family is an annual income of around $60,000. For Louisa, this is roughly $50,000, and for Buckingham, $45,000.
For a comparison with past reports, there are an estimated 7,330 families (11%) earning below $35,000 in the region. The Orange Dot Report 5.0, published in 2022, found 9,413 families (14%) in this same income range. As the population of the region has grown, the number of families earning under $35k has decreased. So we’ve made some progress as a community toward more economic mobility, but not nearly enough. The cost of living has steadily risen, making the $35,000 threshold less representative of the income required to meet the basic needs of working families.
As noted, our community has seen progress since this work began in 2011, but there are still too many struggling families. For a region as prosperous as ours, we have the means to build programs and enact policy that helps more families become self-sufficient.
Citation: Elizabeth Mitchell, Michele Claibourn, Ridge Schuyler. "Orange Dot Report 6.o: Family Self-Sufficiency in the Charlottesville Region - albemarle, Buckingham, Fluvanna, Green, Lousa, Newlson counties and the City of Charlottesville, Virginia." Published October 21, 2024. Read the full report.