ELKHART, Ind. -- A new report from United Way finds many homes in Elkhart County are struggling to afford basic needs.

The organization released its new "State of ALICE" report, which tracks the rising costs of six basics: housing, childcare, food, transportation, healthcare, and technology. 

United Way found 32% of Elkhart County households struggle to afford these basics; that's compared to a 38% rate statewide, and 41% nationally. At a roundtable discussion of the data at Crossroads United Way, experts said inflation is a major contributing factor.

"So, because there's that gap there, we have a good number of individuals and households that are falling sort of in there that have a job, have employment, but are one paycheck away, one broken down car, one medical bill away from real financial problems," says Matthew Sisk, the Director of the Civic and Geospatial Analysis and Learning Lab in the Lucy Family Institute for Data and Society at the University of Notre Dame.

In another part of the discussion, he pointed to literacy in multiple fields as a gap to be addressed. 

"When we're talking about literacy in this context, it's more than just knowing how to read, it's knowing how to make a budget, it's knowing how to find the services that can help a struggling family make a payment, so it's really kind of a combination of digital, financial, and then just sort of traditional literacy altogether," says Sisk.

You can read United Way's ALICE report here.