In Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s Michigan, “it’s hard, especially when you feel like you don’t have help.” “I work at Dunham’s,” Nicole Wares, a single mother living in Traverse City, told WPBN. “I’ve been there almost eight years now. I’m on disability. I would work more, but I physically can’t do it.”
“Money is tight everywhere,” she said. “Cost of living has gone up; income doesn’t really go up much.”
Wares’ situation isn’t unique. A whopping 75% of single mothers are struggling to afford basics like housing, child care, food, transportation and taxes in Whitmer’s Michigan.
That’s based on 2023 data from a 2025 United for ALICE report recently released by the Michigan Association of United Ways. It’s also up 2% from last year’s report.
Statewide, 41% of Michigan’s 4.1 million households struggle to afford a survival budget, which includes 2,359 more than in 2022.
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