By Julie Siebens
Issued September 2013
Although money can provide access to a variety of goods and services common to modern life, financial resources alone cannot provide an overall picture of well-being. That is why the U.S. Census Bureau uses the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) to collect information on a variety of other measures, creating a broad picture of well-being.1 Since 1992, SIPP has been asking householders questions from five broad “domains” of well-being: (1) appliances and electronic goods, such as possession of refrigerators, landline and cellular telephones, and computers; (2) housing conditions, including level of satisfaction with overall home repair, adequate living space, and sufficient privacy; (3) neighborhood conditions and community services, such as road conditions and the presence of abandoned buildings; satisfactory police, fire, and medical services; and attitudes towards local schools; (4) meeting basic needs, including the ability to pay bills in full to avoid eviction, and to have sufficient food; and (5) the expectation of help, should need arise, from friends, family, and the community.
This report continues the examination of well-being, using data from the Adult Well-Being topical module administered periodically throughout the SIPP panels. Although most of this report uses data collected in 2011, comparisons across years use data going back to 1992. SIPP collects information on material well-being only from the householder reference person. The “householder” refers to the person who owns or rents the home.
Extended measures of well-being include a variety of indicators of how households fare. Table 1 provides summary measures of each of the five broad domains of well-being in 2011.2 Among all householders, just 64 percent had all six of the following appliances and electronic goods: clothes washer, clothes dryer, refrigerator, stove, dishwasher, and a landline or cellular phone.3 Nearly 85 percent reported having no problems with housing repairs.4 Many fewer households (72 percent) had no neighborhood problems with street conditions, traffic, trash or litter, abandoned buildings, industries or businesses, or smoke or odors. Just under 9 in 10 householders were able to meet all but one or fewer of their basic needs. Regardless of whether or not householders had difficulty with meeting these needs, 86 percent of them expected to obtain help from friends, family, or community agencies if the need arose.
The age of the householder was associated with the level of material well-being in a household. Across four of the five summary measures, householders aged 15 to 29 had the lowest (or among the lowest) rates of favorable conditions. These youngest householders did report above average expectation of receiving help (87 percent), although householders aged 65 and over had the highest expectation (90 percent).
Table 1.
| Characteristics |
Number of households (thousands) |
Appliances and electronic goods-- full set of applicances1 (percent) |
Housing conditions-- no problem with housing repair2 (percent) |
Neighborhood conditions-- satisfactory neighborhood conditions3 (percent) |
Meeting basic needs--fewer than two difficulties meeting basic needs4 (percent) |
Expectation of help--help expected if need arose5 (percent) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 118,656 | 64.0 | 84.8 | 71.7 | 87.7 | 85.7 |
Age of Householder6 |
||||||
| 15 to 29 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 to 44 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 to 64 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 years and older . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
12,712 32,210 47,672 26,063 |
51.9 65.0 66.8 63.4 |
83.4 83.9 83.8 88.7 |
68.6 71.3 70.7 75.5 |
83.0 84.4 86.6 96.3 |
87.1 85.8 83.0 89.7 |
Sex of Householder |
||||||
| Male . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Female . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
56,267 62,389 |
66.1 62.1 |
86.0 83.8 |
73.0 70.5 |
89.6 86.1 |
85.4 85.9 |
Race and Hispanic Origin of Householder |
||||||
| White alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Non-Hispanic White alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Black alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Other race . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hispanic (of any race) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
94,867 82,069 15,071 8,719 14,058 |
67.4 70.9 45.2 59.4 43.5 |
85.9 86.6 80.4 81.2 81.1 |
72.6 72.9 67.0 69.7 70.3 |
89.1 90.1 79.9 86.4 81.9 |
86.7 87.4 82.3 80.4 81.3 |
Household Income Quintile7 |
||||||
| Lowest quintile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2nd quintile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3rd quintile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4th quintile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Highest quintile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
23,719 23,740 23,723 23,741 23,734 |
38.3 52.1 65.3 76.4 87.9 |
79.0 83.1 85.6 86.9 89.6 |
67.0 68.8 71.2 74.2 77.3 |
77.9 83.0 88.2 93.1 96.5 |
83.5 84.9 85.7 87.3 86.8 |
Education of Householder |
||||||
| Less than high school graduate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . High school graduate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Some college . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bachelor's degree or higher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
12,214 28,947 41,377 36,119 |
34.7 55.2 65.0 79.7 |
79.1 84.4 83.7 88.5 |
66.5 70.5 69.9 76.5 |
81.2 85.5 85.1 94.8 |
83.8 85.7 85.0 86.9 |
Householder Disability |
||||||
| Disabled . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Not disabled . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
15,102 103,555 |
46.4 66.6 |
75.5 86.2 |
60.6 73.3 |
74.3 89.7 |
79.0 86.6 |
Household Type |
||||||
| Nonfamily household: | ||||||
| Lives alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lives with others . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
34,699 4,802 |
51.3 58.7 |
85.5 82.8 |
70.9 65.4 |
88.9 85.3 |
87.6 82.9 |
| Family household: | ||||||
| Married, no children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Married, children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Unmarried, no children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Unmarried, children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
31,697 25,867 8,237 13,355 |
77.5 76.3 54.1 49.0 |
88.2 85.0 81.0 77.8 |
74.8 73.9 67.0 67.2 |
93.3 87.8 84.3 74.2 |
86.1 85.3 83.1 82.7 |
Tenure |
||||||
| Owner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Renter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
77,566 41,090 |
76.7 40.0 |
86.1 82.6 |
74.3 66.7 |
91.9 79.8 |
86.8 83.4 |
Region |
||||||
| Northeast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Midwest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . South . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . West . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
21,675 26,282 44,132 26,568 |
54.2 61.5 69.3 65.7 |
85.4 86.0 84.7 83.6 |
67.8 69.8 76.6 68.5 |
90.0 88.2 87.0 86.6 |
85.9 87.0 86.6 82.6 |