A project of the Center for Women’s Welfare (CWW), the Self-Sufficiency Standard is a budget-based, living wage measure that defines the real cost of living for working families at a minimally adequate level. The Standard is an affordability measure and an alternative to the official poverty measure.

The Self-Sufficiency Standard determines the amount of income required for working families to meet basic needs at a minimally adequate level, taking into account family composition, ages of children, and geographic differences in costs.