Buckeye State residents don’t have to be reminded, but research from the Urban Institute might help elected officials and policymakers remember a significant number of their constituents are struggling with economic insecurity.

According to a report by the Ohio Capital Journal, the institute updated its 2023 research with help from U.S. Census Bureau data to look at “income fragility,” and other factors here.

For example, the cost of average rent, groceries and daycare for two in Ohio is more than $55,000 per year. That means even those who aren’t sitting at or below the official poverty line (for a family of three, that’s making about $26,650 per year) are having a difficult time meeting even basic expenses without help.

“Conventional measures of economic insecurity, like the poverty rate, only capture acute need and shed no light on the hardships of millions of people who struggle to pay their bills and save for the future — people who are economically insecure and not poised to thrive,” the report said.

To be clear, there are approximately 1.2 million Ohioans who ARE living below the poverty line. Data from the Urban Institute report is meant to remind us only that in addition to those folks, there are several million more who are facing debilitating economic challenges, too.

“Many of these people are too often rendered invisible when narrow or inadequate measures of poverty drive public conversation and policy changes,” the report notes, according to the Capital Journal.

Lawmakers and others who could make a difference often focus only on those whose economic conditions are the worst of the worst — and there is certainly reason for that. But failing to recognize there is another — large — segment of Ohio’s population also agonizing over how to make it from week to week means public officials are seeking solutions to only part of the problem.

Economic insecurity is debilitating. It leads to fear and uncertainty while politicians offer promises of prosperity. Rather than false promises, it’s time for those politicians and others to focus on reality and get to work — for everyone.