Half of Louisiana residents struggled to make ends meet in 2023, which was the highest rate among all states and the District of Columbia. That’s the conclusion of the latest ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) report from the United Way: 

In 2023, of Louisiana’s 1,819,905 households, 19% (351,248) were below the Federal Poverty Level (FPL), and another 30% (554,557) were ALICE — households with income above the FPL, but not enough to afford the ALICE Household Survival Budget for their household composition and location. Combining these two groups, 50%* (905,805) of households in Louisiana were below the ALICE Threshold

The number of ALICE households in Louisiana has increased over the last decade: 

Between 2010 and 2023, the total number of households in Louisiana increased by 8%, the number of households in poverty increased by 19%, and the number of ALICE households increased by 17%. During this period, households below the ALICE Threshold in Louisiana consistently made up between 46% and 51% of all state households (Figure 6). Most recently, from 2022 to 2023, the number of ALICE households decreased slightly (contrary to the general trend for this group) and the number of households in poverty increased slightly. 

The consequences of cutting SNAP

The budget bill moving through Congress calls for cutting $230 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), more commonly known as food stamps, by shifting more program costs onto states. The Washington Post’s Mariana Alfaro and Daniel Wu explain how the move will negatively impact SNAP recipients, farmers and state budgets: 

According to data from the Agriculture Department, the federal government spent $112.8 billion on SNAP during fiscal 2023, when an average of 42.1 million people participated in the program per month, receiving a monthly average of $212 in benefits. Farmers and grocers have raised the alarm over the potential changes, noting that a reduction in program funding could threaten the hundreds of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in wages and tax revenue that purchases using SNAP benefits support, according to an analysis conducted by the National Grocers Association.

Alfaro and Wu explain which states will be most impacted:

Carol Gundlach, a senior policy analyst at the nonprofit Alabama Arise, told The Washington Post she fears her state will lose the SNAP program if the bill goes through. “States, especially poor states like Alabama, can’t pick up the commitment that Congress made to providing nutrition assistance,” she said. Under this bill, states with higher rates of SNAP payment errors will face the largest increases in benefit costs.

Eighteen percent of Louisiana’s population participated in SNAP in 2024, which was tied for the second-highest rate among all states. 


Lawmakers rework TOPS overhaul

Citing cost concerns, legislators have amended a bill to tweak award amounts for the TOPS college scholarship program. Under the original version of Rep. Chris Turner’s House Bill 77, scholarships would no longer have been based on a school’s tuition and instead allocated at a flat rate. The result would have been that students attending less expensive, regional schools would have paid less, but those attending more expensive universities, such as LSU, would have paid more, which convinced Turner to remove the flat amounts. The Times-Picayune | Baton Rouge Advocate’s Elyse Carmosino reports:

The bill would still create a new, more selective “Excellence” award, which would offer $12,000 per year to students who score at least a 31 on their ACT and have a minimum 3.5 grade point average. Students who receive the Excellence award amount will have “no out of pocket fees” for their tuition, Turner said. The amendment dropped the cost of the bill from $57 million to $12 million, which Turner noted is the same amount as Louisiana’s unused TOPS dollars from last year, meaning it would have little impact on the state’s current budget.

Tax credits for fortified roofs

Homeowners who install a fortified roof would receive an income tax credit worth up to $10,000 under Senate Bill 28 by Sen. Kirk Talbot, which unanimously advanced out of the Senate on Tuesday. The Louisiana Illuminator’s Wesley Muller reports: 

The measure would give homeowners a nonrefundable income tax credit for up to $10,000 for out-of-pocket expenses used to pay for a fortified roof. … A homeowner who receives a fortified roof grant from the insurance department would also be able to claim the tax credit but only for amounts the grant does not cover. The median cost of a fortified roof in Louisiana is about $16,229. 

Number of the Day

11.6 – Social Security benefits as a percentage share of total income in Louisiana in 2023. (Source: Economic Policy Institute)