Riverside, California – Nearly half of the households in Riverside, California, find it challenging to cover typical expenses, and around one-third experienced difficulties in paying their energy bills over the past year, as revealed by a survey from the Census Bureau. Among the 15 largest metropolitan areas in the US, Riverside reported the highest percentage of people facing significant financial hardships. Furthermore, one out of every seven individuals reported that they occasionally or frequently lacked enough food at home in the week prior to the survey.
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Riverside, located approximately 50 miles east of Los Angeles, serves as a central hub for the warehousing industry, which experienced significant growth during the pandemic but has recently begun to slow down. The local unemployment rate has risen to 5.5% in the last two years, which is higher than the national average. Additionally, the rate of inflation in Riverside surpasses the national average.
The Census Bureau initiated this survey at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic to supply policymakers with timely data on the conditions of American households. The survey examines severe poverty indicators, including difficulties in paying everyday bills, employment status, housing, and overall wellbeing.
Across California, the situation varies. In San Francisco, over 85% of adults reported no issues in paying their energy bills, yet in Los Angeles, more than a quarter of the households struggled to pay their energy bills in full last year.
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Houston stood out for having the most severe food shortages among the major US cities, and it also scored high in other poverty-related metrics according to the survey, which ran from March 5 to April 1 and gathered responses from about 70,000 people. In contrast, cities like Boston, Seattle, and Washington, DC, reported lower levels of financial stress compared to the national average.
Nationally, 23.3% of adults live in households that struggled with energy bills, and more than one-third found it somewhat or very challenging to manage typical household expenses in the past week.
