The Self-Sufficiency Standard tracks and measures the true cost of living faced by American families, illuminating the economic “squeeze” experienced by so many today.

The Self-Sufficiency Standard measures how much income a family of a certain composition in a given place needs to adequately meet their basic needs—without public or private assistance.

The Self-Sufficiency Standard calculates a family sustaining wage that does not require choosing between basic necessities such as child care, nutritious food, adequate housing, or health care. Yet the Standard excludes longer-term needs such as retirement savings or college tuition, purchases of major items such as a car, emergency expenses, or extras such as gifts, video rentals, or soccer fees and therefore reflects a decent, though very modest, standard of living. Read more about the Standard’s methodology.

The 2009 Illinois Self-Sufficiency Standard was prepared through the cooperative efforts of the Social IMPACT Research Center and the University of Washington, Center for Women’s Welfare.

History of the Self-Sufficiency Standard

The Self-Sufficiency Standard was developed by Dr. Diana Pearce while she was the Director of the Women and Poverty Project at Wider Opportunities for Women (WOW). WOW established the national Family Economic Self-Sufficiency (FESS) Project in 1996. In partnership with the Ms. Foundation for Women, the Corporation for Enterprise Development, and the National Economic Development and Law Center, WOW designed the FESS Project to put tools and resources in the hands of state-level policymakers, business leaders, advocates, and service providers to help move low-income, working families forward on the path to economic self-sufficiency.

Through a partnership between WOW and the Center for Women’s Welfare at the University of Washington, the Self-Sufficiency Standard has now been calculated in 37 states, New York City, and the District of Columbia. Over 2,500 community- and state-based organizations and agencies, representing a broad range of sectors, are connected through the FESS Project network. In twelve years, the FESS Project has revolutionized the way policies and programs for low-income workers are structured and what it means to be in need in the United States. For more information about the FESS Project, including resources, tools, and information for groups working on economic security issues across the nation, visit www.wowonline.org/ourprograms/fess 

The 2009 Standard is the 3rd edition of the Illinois Self-Sufficiency Standard. The first version was published in 1998 and the second in 2001.

The Social IMPACT Research Center's Illinois Self-Sufficiency Project is made possible through the generous support of the Grand Victoria Foundation and the Chicago Foundation for Women.