Many know Summit County, Colorado, as a thriving resort community with large houses and mountain town luxuries, but behind the scenes, hundreds of local families are struggling to cover the basics of rent, food, utilities and insurance.

Downfalls of a Service Based Economy

Although it creates a constant source of jobs, our services based economy has many downfalls hidden beneath the surface:

• Cost of living is between 121% and 200% higher than the standard city
• 72% of employment in the County is in low wage, service industry jobs
• Many residents have 2 or more jobs in order to survive
• Seasonal unemployment causes extreme hardship during off-season months
• Low wages prevent families from covering costs of housing and childcare
• According to the Summit County Housing Report, apartments average $1,500 a month and the average single family home cost $838,347

Negative affect on the family

Parents often work long, non-traditional hours in multiple jobs, which can cause high stress levels and difficulties managing family needs

• Summit County has the highest percentage of working parents in the nation at 82%
• The county also has the highest percentages of working mothers in the nation at 81%
• The employment situation can cause high stress parents to be unaware of normal child development stages, resulting in potential child abuse and neglect
• The stressful employment demands creates more potential for drug addiction and alcohol abuse, further increasing risk for child abuse and neglect

Lack of childcare

Childcare is scarce in Summit County and often unaffordable causing larger strain on families. There are only 477 licensed childcare slots but at any given time there are 150 children on waiting lists. This creates an environment where the cost of care is extremely high resulting in hardship for those families who are required to work full time to afford the cost of living in the county.

Summit County children in poverty

• 15% of children under 5 are receiving services from WIC (Women, Infant, Child), a federal program to for low income families
• 25% of school children receive reduced or free lunches
• 7% live below the Federal poverty line
• 19% live below the Self Sufficiency Standard, the estimated amount need to be sufficient in Summit County

Increase in immigrant population

Summit County has seen a large increase in the immigrant population in recent years. The growth explosion has brought people from Mexico, Central and South America, Eastern Europe and West Africa. The increase in the immigrant and refugee population has provided a much needed work force for the county but it has also created need to accommodate the growing diversity of the County.

• Summit County was designated as a “New Ellis Island” by the Center for Immigration Studies and is ranked as 50th out 3,000 counties with the number of new legal immigrants
• Cultural barriers have caused many immigrant families to encounter difficulties finding and maintaining sustainable employment, which increases the economic challenges for these families.