Congressional District
Congressional District 2 (119th Congress), North CarolinaBeta·Data under review
95,054 people in the cliff zone (12.7%) · Pop. 746,340· #13 of 14 in North Carolina by cliff exposure
Key metrics
Cliff zone by income band
How the 95,054 people in Congressional District 2 (119th Congress), North Carolina’s cliff zone are distributed across FPL income bands. Higher concentration in the 100–124% band means more people are near the sharpest benefit cliffs.
Income band · 746,340 in poverty universe
Education
Education level shapes which wage paths stay in or near the cliff zone. Below a bachelor’s degree, most wage paths don’t clear the phase-out range.
Of 528,539 adults age 25+ in this community, those without a bachelor’s degree typically earn in the range where benefit cliffs concentrate. An associate degree adds about $17K in annual earnings — but for a family of three, that still lands near the cliff zone ceiling.
Housing burden
48.5% of renters in this district spend more than 30% of income on housing, and 22.0% spend more than 50%. High housing costs leave less buffer when a benefit cliff triggers a loss.
Families that spend more on housing have less capacity to absorb benefit losses at cliff thresholds. Research shows severely burdened renters (50%+ of income on rent) spend 39% less on food and 42% less on healthcare than unburdened families at similar income levels.
22% of renter households spend over half their income on housing. A family of four at 150% FPL takes home ~$4,125/month. At 50% housing burden, that leaves $2,062/month for everything else. Losing a $200 SNAP benefit or $400 childcare subsidy at that margin doesn’t just hurt — it can make continued employment impossible.
Data accuracy notice
The CLIFF Index is in beta. District-level estimates are derived from Census ACS data and may differ from county-level figures due to geographic apportionment. Send feedback to luke@thepovertysolution.com