Measuring Fitness to Participate: What Do Communities and Families Really Need to Thrive in 2026?

A viral essay released at the close of 2025 challenged a leading assumption in economic measurement: that the federal poverty line, cited at around $31,200 for a family of four, inaccurately reflects what families need to live in today’s world. The author argued this threshold is completely outdated and that a realistic baseline should be much higher, approaching six figures in some geographies, to account for housing, healthcare, childcare, transportation, and basics.

This debate hits at the core of how we measure fitness to participate, meaning not just survival but the ability to fully engage in community life, work, education, and civic participation. If our poverty line is set too low, policies built on it will systematically under-invest in the people and families most in need.

What does it really take for a family or individual to thrive, especially in urban communities like Dallas? Let's look at the local cost of living, wages, housing affordability, and the gap between the two in modern contexts.

The Cost of Living in Dallas: How Far Does Income Stretch?

Dallas is sometimes viewed as relatively affordable compared to coastal U.S. metros like New York, Miami, or Los Angeles; its costs are far from trivial. The median household income in Dallas is around $67,760–$70,000 per year. Yet average household income figures show a wider range closer to $106,979, reflecting higher earners pulling up the average, while many families remain below this level.

To afford a basic standard of living, a single adult in the Dallas-Fort Worth area needs pretax income of at least $107,061 annually, closer to the national comfortable-living benchmark. For a family of two adults and two children, that comfortable benchmark more than doubles, exceeding $213,000 annually to cover living costs without undue strain.

These figures are many, many times higher than the traditional poverty threshold. That gap shows how far U.S. measurements lag behind our lived reality.

Housing Costs: A Primary Driver of Stress

Housing dominates household budgets, and in Dallas, this challenge is clear with the median rent for a two-bedroom apartment as roughly $1,500–$1,600 per month, requiring annual earnings of at least $71,000 to afford rent. Similarly, the median home price in Dallas hovers around $300,462, meaning a household typically needs just over $100,000 in income to afford a mortgage without spending more than 30% of income on housing.

Dallas has a lower cost of living than cities like New York or San Francisco; housing costs consume a disproportionate share of income for families earning near the city’s median. While the traditional poverty line numbers might suggest a household is above it, the reality of rent or a mortgage payment can still push that same household into financial insecurity, without accounting for the affordability of childcare an the rising costs of food and electricity.

Redefining “Fitness to Participate”

The viral critique of the $31,200 poverty line is an important conversation to have to help reframe the public policy debate so that it more accurately reflects current economic realities. The notion of fitness to participate should assess whether people can afford stable housing without excessive cost burden, access reliable transportation and healthcare, purchase nutritious food, cover childcare costs, and save for emergencies and future educational opportunities.

When the poverty line is set too low, policymakers risk underfunding social safety nets, housing programs, and wage policies that could actually stabilize families.

Policies We Wish Would Go Viral 

What kinds of policies could better support families and communities? Here are some ideas we think should go viral as well.

1. Recalibrated Poverty Measures

Updating poverty thresholds to reflect local cost realities, including housing. This would provide a better foundation for determining eligibility for assistance programs and for allocating resources where they’re most needed.

2. Housing Affordability Initiatives

With housing so central to household stress, expanding affordable rental supply and homeownership assistance, encouraging inclusionary zoning that requires affordable units in new projects, and supporting rental assistance tied to actual rent burdens help ensure housing does not eclipse other needs.

3. Wage and Tax Supports

Raising the minimum and living wages to match local costs can help close the gap between income and everyday expenses. Tax credits such as earned income tax credits or childcare credits can bolster household budgets.

4. Childcare and Healthcare Supports

Costs in these domains are not only major drivers of financial strain but are also highly politicized, as many people do not have families due to costs. Subsidies or universal support for childcare and healthcare expand access and reduce the need for families to trade off one essential expense for another.

Measuring fitness to participate requires a deeper and localized understanding of current benchmarks. A dollar figure like $31,200 might have historical significance, but does it reflect today’s economic terrain in cities like Dallas? Communities thrive not when they scrape by but when they can fully engage in work, education, civic life, and family stability, and we should be working towards policies that align poverty measures and wage policy with real-world costs.