Inflation adjusted household income in Michigan has tanked 3% since Gov. Gretchen Whitmer took office, despite a 2% increase in median earnings, according to new U.S. Census data.

A 2023 American Community Survey released on Thursday shows that while median household income nationwide declined 1% from 2019 to 2023 to $77,719, in Michigan the inflation-adjusted measure was down 3% to $69,183, outpacing all but 14 states.

“There’s a real concern that voters have with their financial situation,” University of Michigan economist Don Grimes told Bridge Michigan. “I think (the worries are) even more profound than the data shows.”

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Grimes points to interest rates not included in inflation statistics that remain nearly double for a 30-year mortgage than the rate before the pandemic, as well as higher rates for credit cards and Social Security cost-of-living increases that have not kept pace with the 19.7% inflation between 2019 and 2023.

Raging inflation, which peaked at a 40-year high of 9.1% in June 2022 and has since eased to about 2.5%, more than wiped out a modest 2% increase in inflation adjusted median earnings in Michigan.

The earnings increase was the largest for folks with less education at 15%, and women at 6%, while those with professional degrees lost 5% when taking inflation into account.

Despite some data suggesting the economy is improving, polling shows it remains the top issue across the political spectrum for the 2024 election. Data from the Pew Research Center released on Monday shows “about eight-in-ten registered voters (81%) say the economy will be very important to their vote in the 2024 presidential election.”

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“You hear that (positive economic news), but on a practical, real-life level, I don’t see it or feel it,” 34-year-old Freeland resident Lindsey Thurlow told Bridge. “It’s a do-whatever-you-got-to-do-to-make-ends-meet kind of lifestyle right now.”

“People are still concerned about the price of groceries and the price of gasoline,” EPIC/MRA pollster Bernie Porn told the news site.

“For those who are most dissatisfied with their position, 20% of them are worried about paying for food,” pollster Richard Czuba wrote in an email to Bridge.

Others are overwhelmed by the cost of rent.

Roughly half of Michiganders (49%) who rent spent more than 30% of their income on housing in 2023, while about a quarter of Michigan’s renter households spent more than have of their income on housing, according to the Census data cited by the Detroit Free Press.

“Renters are hugely cost burdened,” said William Lawrence, state coordinator with the Rent Is Too Damn High coalition, told the news site. “Every day we hear from tenants who are having to choose between housing and health care, between housing and child care, between housing and, you know, their kids’ education and it’s so not right. Not getting any better.”

It’s a similar deal for homeowners.

“In Michigan, households with a mortgage saw a slight uptick in median housing costs from $1,494 to $1,509 after adjusting for inflation,” according to the Free Press. “About 23% of the state’s homeowners with a mortgage spent more than 30% of their income on housing costs.”

The Census data isn’t surprising for many Michiganders, particularly the 41% who can’t afford a “survival budget” that covers the basics like housing, child care, food, transportation and health care, despite many working full time.

A United for ALICE report from the United Way shows the percentage of Michiganders in poverty or living below the survival budget threshold – known as “Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed” – has grown significantly since Whitmer took office.

“Our latest estimates from 2022 – the entry of 100,000 additional households below the ALICE threshold while our state’s population has declined – must be received as both a call to action and a challenge to complacency,” the ALICE report read. “ALICE deserves action to lower their essential costs, to raise their incomes, and to open pathways to new jobs that earn above the ALICE threshold.”

In 11 Michigan counties, the percentage of households struggling below the ALICE threshold is more than half, while in that figure is as high as 79% in communities like Wayne County’s River Rouge.

A separate analysis from the University of Michigan’s National Poll on Healthy Aging found “58% of older Michiganders say they’ve cut back on spending, 51% say they’ve been impacted by inflation a great deal, 57% say they have felt some or a lot of stress about personal finances, and 15% say they’ve avoided or delayed spending on health care and health-related costs.”