Tim Stanley
Tulsa World Reporter
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Nearly half of Oklahoma’s 1.6 million households are unable to afford the basics needed to survive financially, according to a new report that attempts to measure household hardship.
The “2025 ALICE in Oklahoma: A Study of Financial Hardship” report was released last week by the Tulsa Area United Way in partnership with United For ALICE, a national research initiative.
Officials say the report — ALICE stands for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed — is a valuable tool for understanding the true struggles and hardships that Oklahomans are experiencing — hardships that are undercounted by official poverty measures.
According to 2023 data, 45% of Oklahoma households (701,452) live below the report’s threshold for financial survival. That includes both those in poverty, 16%, and ALICE households, 29%.
An ALICE household is one that earns above the poverty line but still can’t cover basic needs. The report defines those as rent, child care, food, transportation, health care, technology (basic broadband internet at home and a smartphone plan for each adult), and taxes.
Because they often earn too much to qualify for public assistance programs such as SNAP or Medicaid, “ALICE individuals must make impossible choices month by month between buying food, paying for child care, or making a utility payment,” said Alison Anthony, Tulsa Area United Way president and CEO.
“We all know ALICE,” Anthony added. “They are the recent graduate who can’t afford an apartment, the young parents squeezed by child care, the mid-career professional stuck in a job that doesn’t pay enough. These neighbors keep our economy moving, yet barriers outside their control block their path to financial stability.”
Amber Guipttons, a member of the statewide ALICE Research Advisory Committee that helped with the report, learned about the struggle firsthand.
Her mother raised her and her two sisters while working full time.
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“We did not qualify for benefits, but we clearly were just making ends meet. I know what it feels like to work hard, do the right thing and still feel like you’re drowning financially.”
Now Guipttons is putting what she’s learned to work for the city of Tulsa as director of the Office of Financial Empowerment, which offers free financial counseling to anyone in Tulsa, in partnership with Tulsa Response and Goodwill.
Guipttons said the ALICE report “gives us a road map of what’s happening in our city, so that we can now create more resources and opportunities to help residents.”
Her office continues to see an increase in people looking for financial assistance, she said.
The report was sponsored by Telligen Community Initiative, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Oklahoma, and JPMorganChase. The advisory committee included the Tulsa Regional Chamber of Commerce, Hunger Free Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University’s Spears School of Business, Oklahoma Policy Institute, Impact Tulsa and others.
Anthony said she hopes the report “will spark a deeper conversation about financial instability and opportunities to build solutions in our state. Availability of data and shared language are just the first steps in what we see as a truly uniting opportunity for Oklahoma.”
Guipttons said: “It’s really an invitation to act. We can create better wages. We can create more affordable housing and access to financial tools so families can really plan for the future.
“I’m hopeful that with this report, we’ll have more honest conversations about what it really takes to thrive here in Tulsa.”
For more information or to view the entire report, go to okforalice.org.
tim.stanley@tulsaworld.com
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Tim Stanley
Tulsa World Reporter
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